Battlestar Hyperion: Defying Destiny
by SamsterHam
Summary: Admiral John 'Busman' Jenkins, Admiral of the Colonial Fleet and veteran of the First Cylon War and CO of BSG-53 and the Battlestar Hyperion, has always waited for the return of the Cylons. Lead by a silent ticking of the clock, John will try use his vast experience in the fleet to save himself, his crew and his people from the Cylons, who will stop at nothing to see them dead...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

 _ **Raptor 269, Picon Orbit.**_

 _ **5 Months Before the Fall of the Colonies.**_

All was silent. Well, not silent of course – the engines of the Raptor scout craft made sure of that – but it was quiet enough to make Admiral John Jenkins uneasy. John had felt uneasy a lot lately, ever since the Sagittaron incident actually. Like the calm before a storm, everything seemed blissful and silent. John remembered the feeling before, that's what made him uneasy.

The last time he had felt anything like this he had been on another Raptor – albeit a rather more primitive one than this – on his way to flight school on Leonis only months before the First Cylon War, a war which had cost him – and the Colonies – more than he dared think about. Admiral Jenkins was not a young man, having served the Colonial fleet all his life from age 16 – 52 years prior – but his many experiences told him that calm never lasts.

John looked around the cabin he was in. Well, not the cabin, John noted, but rather the rear end of the cockpit. Admiral Jenkins knew these Raptor assault craft inside out – both figuratively and literally – as the Raptor was the first class of ship he learned to fly back on Leonis, all those years ago.

John could just about see out of the slit-sized windows that adorned the large gull-wing door opposite him. As far – or not so far in this case – as John could see the white dots of stars filling in the dark abyss of space. Any star gazing would have to wait however, as the light grey structure of the Colonial Fleet Command Station came into view and the pilots prepared to land.

"CFCS, this is Raptor 269, carrying Admiral Jenkins, requesting permission to land," Said the main pilot, Major Sidney 'Spinner' Halway, as he brought the ship in closer to the looming station. The station – which had been constructed only a few years before – was a maze of giant Battlestar jetties and of communications antenna surrounding the central hub. John had visited the station many times in the past and was ready once again to face the melee that was the Admiral's council (also known as the round-table by various members of the _Hyperion_ 's crew).

After a few moments of silence, Major Halway reached down to the controls either side of his chair and began to pull the Raptor towards one of the docking bays saying: "Copy that CFCS, approaching Docking Pad 12," John slowly pushed himself to his feet and walked up to the pilots of the ship.

"So, are we going straight down or do we have to wait the _Hyperion_?" John asked his pilot. Sidney looked up and turned his head to John.

"Straight down sir. They gave us priority; you must be late," Sidney replied, looking up at John through the clear-fronted standard-issue pilot's helmet.

"Well I hope not. Last time I was late I got a very loud scorning from Rob," John said wistfully. Admiral Rob Nagala was known for having a temper, even with those he usually got on with, such as John himself. John supposed that was because of his experience during the war when his Viper was abandoned in orbit of Caprica because he refused an order.

John dropped that train of thought as they drifted past the gargantuan hull of a resting Battlestar, the biggest and most powerful battleships in the whole fleet. This particular craft bore the name _Columbia_ and was of the same hulking Mercury class as the _Hyperion_ and their twin ship _Pegasus_ (who together formed the prototypes for the class).

The small Raptor craft flew around the protruding 'Alligator head' the made up the fore of the ship and Sidney used the ship's RCS thrusters to cancel their velocity before directing the craft towards a small pad just in front of the _Columbia_ 's bow.

 _ **Hangar 12, Colonial Fleet Command Station**_

John stood directly in front of the Raptor's door as it hissed loudly, matching the pressure of the Raptor with the station. Moments later – once the hissing stopped – the door swung up and revealed a pair of Colonial officers in their standard blue uniforms, who immediately snapped into a salute when their saw John standing before them.

John stepped onto the large – yet stubby – wing of the Raptor and met the Lieutenant's – as he now saw them – salute. "At ease," John said and the two officers lowered their hands.

"It's good to see you again, Admiral," Said the first Lieutenant – a fair-skinned young woman – who held out her hand for John. John shook it and turned to the second Lieutenant – a surprisingly similar looking man – and shook his hand as well.

"I'm Lieutenant Green," Said the second Lieutenant. "And this," He indicated to his comrade. "Is Lieutenant Green," John let out a small chuckle.

"Good to see the Fleet still keeps siblings together," John remarked.

"It is indeed," Said the first Lieutenant Green, who turned around and started leading the group out of the hangar and towards the nearest exit.

 _ **Meeting Room D, Colonial Fleet Command Station**_

The first Lieutenant Green reached out and pulled open the door to the meeting room, often used for the 'round-table'. John quickly thanked the Lieutenants and entered the room.

Inside, John saw a long, curved desk with 12 seats, 9 of which were already filled. Behind each of the chairs there was a flag corresponding to the Colony represented by each of the Admirals. John quickly scanned the room and headed for the chair in front of yellow and green banner that marked out John's Colony of Virgon.

"Good afternoon John," Admiral Abigail Polis said. John smiled and gave a little wave to Admiral Polis, whose ship – _Columbia_ – they had passed on the way in. John reached out and pulled his chair out from under the table and sat down to survey the room he was in.

It was not a small room, but with the large egos of 10 Colonial Admirals in it, the room felt rather cramped. Each of the Admirals were wearing either their dress uniform or their standard issue Admiral's uniform if they, like John, had been on their way back from active duty when they arrived at the station.

After a minute or two, the door opened again and Admiral George Granta – the Admiral of the Battlestar _Rycon_ , who represented the Colony of Sagittaron – bustled into to the room and managed to sit down just as Admiral Nagala – whose homeworld of Picon they were in orbit of – made his usual ceremonious entry.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen," Admiral Nagala said as he reached the chair in front of Picon's red and white flag. "I trust you are all well," John, along with the other Admirals, nodded in response. "Good. Now, to start today's meeting I believe Peter has something to say to you all,"

"Yes," Admiral Peter Corman – head of extra-system operations and representative of the Colony Tauron – said, whilst standing up. "I do. Well, to be more accurate I have something to say to you, Admiral Jenkins," John stared inquisitively at Admiral Corman as everyone's attention was directed at him.

"What is it Peter?" John asked, not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Although, as he thought more about it, he realised he hadn't been out of their home system in months, which made him even more confused than before.

"I, well, the President has a new mission for you," Admiral Corman told John. The Admiral bent over and pulled a file out of his leather bag he had placed on the table. "As you may know, we unfortunately lost contact with Project Outreach recently,"

"Yes, I do know," John said solemnly. Project Outreach had been a Colonial effort to rediscover to locations of both humanity's homeworld and the mythical Colony of Earth. Only a month before however, the Battlestar _Prometheus,_ went dark and the mission was assumed a failure. "What of it?" John asked.

"While we are still unsure at this time, we do have a lead on the location of Kobol. This lead is one we want you to follow up ASAP," Admiral Corman explained. "Preparations are being planned by the Minister of Defence at the moment, but we are to believe that Project Ark will be ready within 6 months and publicly launched within 9,"

"You want the _Hyperion_ to lead this Operation?" John asked Admiral Corman.

"I do. Your skill and experience have been more than vouched for by this council,"

"I'm honoured, but wouldn't it be better if a newer, more sustainable ship were to lead the mission? Perhaps the new Minerva-class Battlestars?" John proposed.

"While that would be a smart idea," Admiral Robert Mikal – from the Battlestar _Triton_ and the Colony of Aerilon – interrupted. "The first ship, the _Minerva_ herself isn't due to launch for another 4 or 5 months, and its CO will only be a Commander. We need someone with more experience,"

"That, John, is something you have in bundles," Said Admiral Jane Lorrin from Canceron.

"Well, in that case, my fleet is more than capable," John told the other Admirals.

"Oh, we know. However the 5th Fleet will not be available for use in this Project," Admiral Mikal said. "It will be just Battlestar Group 53 on this one,"

"That's fine, I'm sure we'll fine by ourselves," John commented.

"This brings me to the final point for this Project. John, you cannot tell anyone outside this room, except for your XO," Admiral Corman said.

"Umm... alright," John lost protocol for a moment while he considered Admiral Corman's reasoning.

"If you're wondering, Admiral Jenkins, it is because this is a very controversial mission. If anyone outside this circle were to leak it, the public reaction could be devastating for support of this Project," Admiral Corman told John.

"But what about their friends and families? I doubt this is a trip my men and women can back out of?" John protested.

"It isn't. That is why we want you and your XO to collect the names of your people's family and friends so that they can accompany then to Kobol, where you will start Colonization," John nodded in response to Admiral Corman's orders.

"Right," John said after spending a few moments thinking. "I accept the mission, but I need you, Admiral Walker, to take over the 5th Fleet in my absence,"

"Done," Admiral Vince Walker – from the Colony of Leonis – confirmed.

"We are in agreement then?" Admiral Nagala asked all of the Admirals.

"We are," Admiral Mikal told him.

"Then sit back down Peter and we'll move onto the next business of the day..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

 _ **Galactica Street, Boskirk City, Virgon.**_

 _ **1 Month Before the Fall of the Colonies.**_

Virgon was usually a cold planet to live on. It had skies thick with clouds and air filled with water, but for once the planet seemed awake, alive. Its inhabitants were upbeat, the city services were all running smoothly, but it all still made John uneasy.

He had felt uneasy ever since his arrival at the CFCS four months ago. He knew that whatever his trip to Kobol would mean, it wouldn't be so good for everyone else. There were, of course, many positives to the trip – as his XO, Colonel Matthew Virgon, had pointed out – but the fact that ever since they left that planet, spiritualists of all persuasions had threatened those who would return in one way or another didn't help John's nerves.

Since the meeting, he had kept true to his word. No-one except for Colonel Virgon – his life-long friend – had been told about the mission. It hadn't been easy of course, as soon as he had returned to his Raptor, in fact, Sidney had pestered him with questions. Thank the gods for Admiral Nagala's many agenda's, John thought, or he never would have been able to get Sidney to talk about anything else.

That last meeting had, in fact, been the longest John had been in for a very long time; probably the longest since the final Operations were planned at the end of the Cylon War. After they had discussed the logistics of moving thousands of people, the Admiral's had gotten in a large debate over what had happened to the Battlestar _Prometheus_ and her fleet. The general consensus was that the fleet probably ran out of fuel or accidentally jumped into a star.

Admiral Corman's assessment was even less pleasing, and John hated to admit it had a god grounding in reality. The theory was that humanities former creations, the walking toasters commonly referred to as Cylons. They were malicious and uncompromising, facts which John knew better than most.

John had been a Viper jockey during virtually all 12 years of the conflict and had seen things he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy... unless that enemy was the Cylons themselves of course.

Currently, John was walking alone down a street in the centre of the city. John was not a tall man, but age had not made him diminutive either. His hair had been steadily grey for the last twenty-something years, a down-side to his career of military command.

Truthfully, John knew he wasn't alone. Hundreds of civilians were going about their daily lives all around him. For once – he supposed – he was one of them. Just someone going from one place to another. Except the place they were going was the Green Road Mall and he was preparing to go on what could very well be a one way trip to a world that had been abandoned for millennia.

John continued to ponder everything playing in his mind until a figure stepped out of the crowd and grabbed onto his arm from behind. John instinctively spun around and reached his hand down to his hip (where his side-arm was usually kept).

"Calm down, I'm not a Cylon," Said a familiar voice. John breathed a sigh of relief when he turned around and saw the face of not an attacker, but his Tactical Officer – and good friend – Emily Jartell.

"Miss Jartell. What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be back on the _Hyperion_?" John asked.

"I hope not, I was told to come and find you," Emily told John.

"Who's looking for me?" John asked.

"The XO. Says you need to get back and sort manifests, or something like that," Emily replied.

"Is that it?" John rolled his eyes. Matthew Virgon always had a habit of over-reacting. "Next time save your trips planetside for when the ship's under attack,"

"Of course sir. There was something else though," Emily said as John began to walk off.

"And what would that be Lieutenant?" John asked as he spun around to face Emily again.

"This," Emily reached into her bag she had hung over his shoulder and pulled out a brown-paper envelope which – John saw once he turned it over – had a big red stamp on it reading 'TOP SECRET'. John took the envelope and fumbled around his pockets. A moment later he pulled out a pocket knife and slit open the top of the envelope and pulled out a thick pad of paper.

On the paper were lines and lines of computer code. John never was a computer technician so he gave it a disapproving look and handed it to Emily.

"What can you make of that?" John asked as Emily began to read. John continued flicking through the other pieces of paper which were – thankfully – not written in code.

"I recognise this code," Emily said after a minute or so. John looked up and took off his own glasses and said:

"From what?" John asked her.

"From Dr. Baltar's new CNP networking. It seems almost identical to the current software we have in the fleet except for these few lines," Emily stopped and showed John a few lines of code, not that he knew what it meant. "This looks completely different. To me it looks like it could be used for long range communications. Interstellar distances. It carries on down the page here,"

"Where's this from?" John asked as he continued to scan the document.

"A shuttle that came in this morning, very 'hush-hush'. I gather Hermes even had to land it on the exterior landing pads," Emily told John as she took off her glasses and slipped the paper back into its envelope.

"I'd better get back in that case. Was there anything else?" John took the envelope as he spoke and started walking, while Emily tagged along behind.

"Sort of sir. I was also told to bring you back so we can start heading for Canceron,"

"Canceron?" John stopped and looked at Emily in confusion.

"Yes sir, Canceron," Emily said. John stared at her for a moment trying to figure it out. "Don't you remember sir? We're all going on shore leave for a couple of weeks, aren't we?"

"Oh, right," John said as a wave a relief flowed over his face. "Of course. We'd better not keep them waiting then," John turned back onto his original course and set off down the street towards the Spaceport they had landed their Raptor in on the way down.

 _ **Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, Canceron Orbit.**_

 _ **3 Weeks Before the Fall of the Colonies.**_

Compared to the warm sun and gentle breezes of Canceron, the cool filtered air of the _Hyperion_ made John shiver through his uniform. He had just stepped out of the chartered liner that had docked inside the _Hyperion_ 's dorsal-port flight pod.

John was slowly walking down the dimly lit corridors of the _Hyperion_ , along with the rest of the crew who had just finished their shore leave in the resorts of Northern Canceron. John mingled with a few of the crew while he walked until they reached the corridor that split off towards the CIC.

As John turned down the other corridor, he saw Emily step out from behind two black-clad Colonial Marines who turned down a different path.

"Oh, hello Admiral. I was just on my way down to see you," Emily said as she turned around and started walking alongside John.

"What's the matter?" John asked her. Emily reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out a small envelope similar to the one she had handed him on Virgon a week ago.

"This arrived this morning," She said, handing it to him. John took it and turned it over. The opening on the back had been sealed with a wax stamp, something which John had not seen used in years.

"Another undercover shuttle arrival I assume," John joked as he inspected the seal on the back.

"Far from it sir," Emily told him. John looked up from his letter and gave Emily an inquisitive look.

"How so?" He asked.

"Full pomp and circumstance, as usual," Emily's reply only added to John's confusion.

"I'm sorry, usual for what?"

"You weren't told? The Minister of Defence showed up this morning with Dr. Baltar. They told me to give this to you and direct you to your office," Emily explained to the now stunned John.

"And why did nobody think to tell me?!" John exclaimed, causing Emily to try and quiet him down.

"I thought Colonel Virgon had already told you," Emily said in a calm tone.

"He didn't," John stood seething for moment before re-collecting his thoughts. "You said they were in my office, didn't you?"

"I did,"

"In that case, tell them I'm on my way," John said, dropping the subject of Colonel Virgon's radio silence until later.

"Will do sir. See you in CIC," Emily smiled and headed back the way she came as John spun around and double-timed back to his office before the Minister would be warranted to shout at him.

It had been quite a while since John had been 'graced' with the presence of Minister of Defence, Thomas Knight. The Minister was a stuck up Caprican man, whose whole life seemed to revolve around his selfish desire to become Colonial President, a concept which terrified both John and the Council of Admirals. Now though, the Minister was accompanied by Dr Gaius Baltar, probably the only other person in the entire Twelve Colonies more egotistical and self-centred than the Minister himself. John supposed that came with the highest IQ in the Colonies, but in John's opinion it didn't excuse it.

John was now standing outside his own office door, about to do something he hadn't done since he was first given commission of the ship twelve years prior. Knock on it. John knocked lightly against the steel bulkhead and waited. A moment later, the highly exaggerated voice of Minister Knight sliced through the door.

"Come in Admiral," The Minister called. John quickly unlocked the door and heaved it open because, despite serving on similar craft for the last 50 years, John still found the bulkheads too heavy for their own good. John stepped through the threshold of his office and swung the door back into place.

As he turned to face Minister Knight and Dr Baltar, he swung his eyes around his personally decorated office. Along the left-hand walls – by his desk – where display cases containing antique maps of the Colonies, dating back to the arrival of the 12 Tribes, and all manner of cartographic and seaborne naval equipment. Along the other wall was his model collection. His collection, proudly collected during his tenures as Battlestar XO over the years featured a scale model of each ship he had served on, as well as some he hadn't (such as the Battlestar _Atlantia_ ).

While John continued to analyse every inch of his room – just to make sure nothing had been moved by the two men who had just been alone in his room – Dr Baltar walked over to the Admiral and extended a hand.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Admiral... Jenkins?" Dr Baltar said. John rolled his eyes as he turned to face Baltar and shook his hand.

"Yes, Jenkins. Although I do believe we've met before Doctor," John told Baltar. Baltar looked taken aback as he tried to remember any previous meetings. "CapriCon, 2105?"

"Yes... I was showing off Darria Zoom, wasn't I?" Baltar asked, unconvincingly.

"I believe it was," John replied, truthfully having no idea; he was just trying to test the Doctor. "So what have you two gentlemen come here for today?"

"Well, we were hoping to talk to you about this," Minister Knight said, whilst holding out a brown card folder. John took it and pulled out a piece of paper, identical to the one Emily had given him on Virgon. At least he assumed it was the same, John didn't pay a huge amount of attention to the details the last time around.

"What is it?" John asked, assuming they didn't know about the file he received on Virgon. Dr Baltar sat down on one of the two sofa chairs in front of John's desk.

"This is my highly new Fleet Network, the Command Network Program," Baltar explained. "However, at the behest of President Adar, I have altered it especially for BS-106,"

"Oh please, call her _Hyperion_ ," John insisted. "Now what exactly have you changed?"

"Nothing at all in fact, this is just the experimental version of the software we implemented on BS-6..."

"The Battlestar _Mercury_?" John interrupted. Baltar nodded before continuing.

"Yes, we implemented it on the _Mercury_ a few months ago. As it's only a trial version, there are quite a few missing elements; meaning that it is quite a bit smaller than the full system. That means that we can have it implemented into your ship's systems within a few days, a week at most," Baltar told John.

"That's very good, thank you Doctor," John said, being sure to sound superior to Dr Baltar, who was clearly attempting to take the high-ground in the discussion.

"It should allow your Fleet to function at a greater distance away from each other and help coordinate Nav points for FTL jumps quicker than the full system," Minister Knight explained. John nodded while he listened and pretended to read through the code on the paper in his hand.

"And due to it being smaller, you should be able to add more Firewalls onto it if you encounter any bugs which may or may not have more space to hide in the code," Dr Baltar said.

"Now why, Dr Baltar, would I be needing to add Firewalls? Shouldn't your software be fully capable of defending itself?" John said, hoping to bait Baltar into telling him how much he knew about John's mission.

"All software has its flaws, Admiral. Only the best are able to counter them," Baltar said, revealing to John that he – thankfully – knew nothing of his mission to Kobol.

"Well thank you for this Dr Baltar, I look forward to being able to use it," John concluded. "When can I expect it to be added, Minister Knight?"

"As soon Admiral, it's your call," The Minister told John. John nodded and started heading for the door.

"Thank you for your time Minister, and you too Doctor," John said as he reached out for the bulkhead and swung open for Dr Baltar and Minister Knight to exit through.

"You're welcome Admiral," Baltar said as he walked out of the room.

"I'll see you around Admiral Jenkins," Minister Knight added as he followed Baltar out. John gave him a quick – and not too real – smile and stepped back into his room. He breathed a quick sigh of relief and was just about to swing the door shut again when someone knocked on it. John looked up and saw Emily standing in the corridor.

"Hello again sir. Did the meeting go well?" Emily asked as she walked past him into his office.

"It was fine Lieutenant," John said unenthusiastically. "Oh, we got another lump of code," John added. "You may want to compare it with the Virgon one,"

"Will do," Emily said as she placed a clipboard down on John's desk. Behind her, John circled around to the sofa chair opposite the one Baltar had sat in and dropped into it. "What was it they were talking to you about?"

"Just that we're having new CNP installed," John told her while she sorted out the papers on his desk.

"That's good news," Emily said.

"Sort of. We're being fitted with the old experimental systems they used to have on the _Mercury_. Before they upgraded of course," John explained.

"When are we being fitted with it? I think the crew is getting sick of the UMCP," Emily said. John knew the crew would kick up a fuss about the experimental CNP, but he hoped they'd be alright as long as they could have a change from the UMCP they'd had on the ship for the last 10 years.

"ASAP I think..." John trailed off while he tried to remember something he was going to ask the Lieutenant. "Oh yes," He said, remembering. "I need you or Hermes to get the Leonis shipyards on the horn and see when we can get it fitted,"

"Will do... and remember you need to be at the launch ceremony of the _Minerva_ there as well this month," Emily reminded him.

"Of course," John said. He brushed his uniform and stood up to let Emily out.

"I've got it sir," Emily told him as she grabbed her clipboard back and started walking towards the door. She swiftly unlocked the door and effortlessly opened it – an act which always greatly irritated John – and then spun around to give John a quick salute before she stepped through the door and closed it behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

 _ **CIC, Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, High Helios Beta Orbit.**_

 _ **During the Fall of the Colonies.**_

As John entered the rather empty Command Information Centre (simply known as the CIC), the eyes of each of the crew in the room where firmly planted on the central monitors that hung from the ceiling over the Command Table. "What's going on?" John asked Emily, who was standing behind her control panel to John's left.

"Crow found an unidentified contact sir," Emily reported.

"Well then, Mr Yo," As John spoke he turned to Hermes Yo, the _Hyperion_ 's long-serving Communications Officer. Hermes was dark-skinned man with curly hair that he always kept as short as possible. "Hermes I need to get Crow and Spinner on speakers, I want to know what's going on out there. And someone find Colonel, he needs to be here right frakking now," The crew could sense quite a lot of urgency in the Admiral's voice and so they rushes to their tasks without question. "Do we have any idea what the contact might be?" John asked Emily.

"Unfortunately not sir. It was just a shadow but I thought the CAP should check it out," Emily replied. John nodded and started anxiously tapping the table with his nails. John's uneasy feelings had been ebbing and flowing through his blood-stream for about six months and now it had reached his heart. He could almost hear distress calls and screams like whispers through the wind but even then he wasn't prepared for what came next.

"Admiral!" Hermes shouted. John snapped back into the action and his eyes darted towards the Petty Officer.

"What is it?" John asked, his heart pounding.

"Message from Spinner," Hermes replied as he tapped commands into his console and brought up the live audio feed from Major Sidney 'Spinner' Halway's Viper starfighter.

" _Hyperion_ , Spinner: There's something going on around Virgon," Sidney's familiar voice told the CIC crew, although it wasn't as soothing as usual because John hear a tint of panic line the edges of his words. John reached down to the Command Table and picked up one of the cord-phones and put the microphone end up to his lips.

"Spinner, this is _Hyperion_ Actual: What do see?" John asked.

"Actual... there are really bright flashes coming from all over the planet. Is there a meteor shower expected or something?" Sidney asked the Admiral, unable to comprehend the other possibility.

"Spinner, do either you or Crow have a camera fitted?" Sidney was silent for a moment while – John suspected – he checked the ships' manifests.

"Roger Actual, Crow has a camera," At Sidney's reply, John turned to Hermes.

"Mr Yo, bring up the feed from Crow's Raptor," John ordered. "Thank you Spinner, stay on the line," The Admiral shoved the cord-phone back into its berth and looked up at the monitors above his head which changed from their standard DRADIS displays and switched to the feed from the camera mounted on the nose of Captain Karl 'Crow' Stoneham's Raptor. John readied himself for the images but he could never have prepared for the shot that stood before him.

Bright flashes went off all over the planet and great clouds clogged up the atmosphere. Many of the crew didn't understand, but John did. Those flashes where ones he hardly saw anymore. They were the hallmarks of nuclear warheads.

The crew stared silently in disbelief for more moments than John cared to count until he snapped back into the real world. "Turn to camera to face Leonis," John ordered. Hermes nodded his response and made the camera feed swing around to a small dot in the middle of space. They waited in silence for a few moments while John allowed time for the light to travel between them and the planet before he saw it again.

The dot that was Leonis began to twinkle. At first it twinkled like a star but soon the flashes became so frequent it was as if they were looking at a supernova. "My gods..." John whispered. The CIC was completely silent for a moment while everyone in it began to process. John was just about to speak again when Colonel Virgon burst through the revolving doors to the CIC behind John.

"I heard there's a little situation. We're not getting attacked by the Cylons again are we?" The Colonel joked. John stifled a cough before he spoke.

"Actually Matt... I think we are," John struggled to get the words out but as he did he pointed to the monitors above them. The Colonel gave John an unconvinced look before the Colonel's eyes met with the images coming from outside.

"Holy frak..." The Colonel gasped as he watched the footage of Virgon and Leonis.

"Yeah. I need you to rally the troops, tell them what's going on," John told Colonel Virgon.

"What do I tell them about? The fact that their families and everyone they ever knew were just wiped out in an instant?!" The Colonel's tone began to rise so John put a reassuring hand on his arm.

"Don't you worry about the specifics, I'm sure their families, and ours, will be just fine," John whispered into the Colonel's ear. Colonel Virgon gave a confused look before John whispered: "Ark," At which point the Colonel nodded and walked out of the still silent CIC.

John wandered back to the centre of the room and stood silently considering their options. Do they run? Hide? Stand and fight? John – after much deliberation – decided to do the latter and find out what was left of the once mighty Colonial Fleet. Just as he was about to turn to Hermes however, the Petty Officer called out to him after his console started bleeping.

"Admiral! A message from Admiral Nagala," Hermes called out. John rushed over to Hermes, anxious to find out if this was a lone occurrence to Virgon and Leonis or whether all of the Colonies met the same fate. Hermes handed John the message as it rolled out of the console.

With quivering hands John pulled out his reading spectacles and quickly read the message in his head. He walked solemnly back to the centre of the room and picked up one of the cord-phones. Pressing a button on the table, John activated the intercom and addressed his crew.

"This is the Admiral, may I have your attention please?" John said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Moments ago I received word from Admiral Nagala that the Cylons have returned and have destroyed our homes. Caprica City is gone. Fleet Headquarters on and over Picon are gone. The training schools on Leonis are gone. Our shipyards over Scorpia are gone. Our justice and agricultural systems on Libran and Aerilon are gone too. Even our own Fleet's base on Virgon is gone.

"However, we are not. We still remain and, due to the content of this message, at least some of our brothers and sisters in the Fleet are alive as well. Admiral Nagala has taken command of the Fleet aboard the Battlestar _Atlantia_ and we are going to join him in a counter-attack against the Cylon Fleet over our home of Virgon. We are going to work together to take the fight back to those frakking Cylons and make them pay for what they did today.

"We set sail now to avenge our homes and everything we swore to protect! We are not going quietly into the night and we are not heading for the halls of Valhalla today! If you are with me, get this ship combat ready and prepare to jump and those who aren't, get your Cylon asses down to the airlock and kindly throw yourselves out!" John slammed the cord-phone back into the desk and turned to his crew, who were all now standing up.

"So say we all!" Hermes shouted.

"So say we all!" Came the crew's reply. They fell silent and looked to John.

"So say we all," John said, mimicking his crew. They were all silent for a minute before John moved them on. "Right then... Set Condition One throughout the ship and begin jump prep. Mr Yo I want our Vipers in the tubes immediately and as many Raptors as possible outfitted for combat,"

 _ **CIC, Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, Virgon Orbit.**_

 _ **During the Fall of the Colonies.**_

Only a few minutes after they had received Admiral Nagala's message, the _Hyperion_ completed her jump into Virgon. Already there was one of the biggest fleet's John had seen assembled and at its core, the gigantic Nova-class Battlestar, _Atlantia_. Its long hull surrounded the ship in a similar fashion to the Mercury, however its elongated alligator head that curved from the join on the body until it met the bottom of the hull meant it had greater missile-deflection than competing ships.

Alongside the _Hyperion_ were her sister ships in BSG-53. Two compact Battlestars of the Odin-class flanked a large Jupiter-class (one of the last of her kind now that the _Galactica_ was being retired). The Odin's – by the names of _Eos_ and _Theia_ – had long, semi-cylindrical bodies with small yet spacious flight pods attached to either side and were of the same design as the Battlestars _Valkyrie_ and _Yashuman_ who were the first victims of the Cylon attack.

This was all information John was reading off of the DRADIS screen in front of him, on which he could see more and more contacts bleeping into view. A wave of confidence surged through John as he saw that over half the Admiralty were here with him. As the bleeping stopped, John counted about 40 Battlestars around them; a third of the Fleet. With this, John knew there was no way the Cylons could completely destroy them, though – knowing the tricks the Cylons pulled during the last war – there wouldn't be nearly as many by the war's end.

As well as the Battlestars, a whole plethora of support craft – such as Gunstars and Defender-class scouts – filled out the already well-rounded Fleet.

"Admiral!" Hermes called, breaking John's focus on the DRADIS screen. "Incoming transmission for you from the Battlestar _Atlantia_ ,"

"Right, yes. Put Rob through," John told Hermes. The Petty Officer nodded and John reached down to the cord-phones in anticipation.

"He's on sir," Hermes said, prompting John to pull the phone up to his ear.

"John," John heard the familiar voice of Admiral Nagala say from down the line.

"Rob, how's it going?" John asked.

"Oh, y'know normal stuff really. The destruction of the Colonies, war with the Cylons... standard day in the office," Admiral Nagala joked. John let out a little chuckle before replying.

"It's quite a Fleet you've got here; what's your plan?" John asked the other Admiral.

"To be honest John, I'm not so sure. I think find an easy target and take it out together to send a message then prepare for a major counter-op," Nagala told John.

"Sounds like a good idea... if we can separate into different Fleet's we can fight the Cylons on as many fronts as we can," John concurred. While he was speaking to Admiral Nagala, John's eyes were still firmly planted on the DRADIS screen above him that – luckily for them – showed only green, Colonial contacts.

For a few moments the two Admirals were silent until John spoke up once more. "How badly hit is Helios Alpha?" John enquired, interested to know the damage on the main system of the Colonies; the one that contained both their capital, Caprica, and the Fleet's base, Picon.

"Real bad John. Nukes hit Caprica City and wiped it out in a heartbeat. I have no idea how many Base-ships are out there but they cut straight through the _Valkyrie_ and the _Yashuman_ ," Nagala said sombrely.

"Gods..." John whispered under his breath. "What about Picon?"

"The same... BSG-12 never even stood a-" Nagala was interrupted by both Emily and his Tactical Officer.

"Admiral!" Emily shouted. John snapped his attention to her and then back to the DRADIS screen. "We've got unidentified contacts!"

"Do you see that Rob?" John asked Admiral Nagala down the phone.

"Affirmative, it's the toasters alright. Set Action stations John; we've found our first catch of the day!" Nagala said, cutting the line. John switched his phone back to the intercom line and began his orders.

"Action Stations! Actions Stations! Set Condition One throughout the ship. Launch all Vipers and prepare guns for enemy contact," John ordered. He slammed the phone back into its berth and felt a twitch of excitement, a feeling not shared by the clearly terrified CIC crew.

John's fingers tapped lightly on the command table as the deep klaxons sounded around the ship and crewmembers ran to their duties. "Sir," Emily called to him, drawing John's attention back to the moment. "We have registered four Cylon Basestars and they appear to be launching bogeys,"

"Alright. Hang back and get all of our Vipers launch, I don't want to go in at half strength. Besides, Admiral Nagala's got more than enough back-up from the others," John ordered.

"Yes sir," Emily replied. Despite the fact that his entire civilisation was falling apart around him, John felt more alive than he had. The only way to top this – he thought to himself – would be if he was out there in a Viper himself.

"Can I have a live feed from the bow, Lieutenant?" John asked Emily.

"Of course sir. On screen," Emily tapped quickly at her control panel and brought up live footage from the front of the ship which meant John could see the rest of the fleet, which was now heading at full speed towards the four star-shaped ships before them.

It was at this moment that John remembered something, something he now realised was something he swore after the last war. "Emily," He called, slight panic creeping into his voice. "Get me Admiral Nagala,"

" _Atlantia_ 's still on the line sir," Emily replied. John nodded his thanks and pulled one of the cord-phone up to his ear.

"Rob?" John said. He waited for a moment while Admiral Nagala picked up the phone.

"John? What is it?" Nagala asked.

"How many of our ships have the new Networks on them?"

"All of them apart from yours. What's the matter John?"

"You need to disconnect them. I just remembered that that system does not have the correct amount of firewalls. Sir, it's like we've left the house with the front door wide open for them!" John stopped for Admiral Nagala's reply but suddenly he heard a loud wave of static fill his ear. He pulled the phone away from his ear and looked quickly between Emily and Hermes. "I just lost _Atlantia_ ,"

"Sir..." Emily gasped as she glanced up at the feed on the screens above John's head. She slowly pointed to it and John spun around to have a look.

What he saw then – he later said – stayed with him for the rest of his life. In one instant a third of the fleet – the Colonies' last hope – suddenly stopped. All the power seemed to drain out of them and their massive hulls began to drift. As the _Hyperion_ 's CIC crew drew a collective gasp, the small bogeys sent from the Basestars and the Basestars themselves fired waves upon waves of what obviously must have been nuclear missiles. Only seconds later, the missiles impacted on their first targets and created a blinding explosion, and at the same time more and more missiles were fired onto the defenceless Colonial Battleships.

Suddenly however, the most terrifying event in Colonial history was interrupted by the sounds of Emily's voice and every set of DRADIS alarm. "Sir, missiles are locking onto us!"

"Make sure everything is disconnected and hit those missiles with everything we've got," John ordered, without his eyes leaving the feed from outside, where more and more blinding flashes filled the screen. The ship rumbled as every single CIW (Close-in-Weapon) and flak-loaded Railgun fired a flaming wave towards the incoming ordinance. As everyone held their breath, John only heard the sounds of exploded missile and flak casing impact the formerly pristine hull of the _Hyperion_.

As John and the crew let out a sigh of relief once the missile bombardment ended, they turned their sights back on the events outside; the only problem being however, the screen was filled only with light. "Status report?" John asked tentatively.

"Not sure sir, there's too much EM interference," Emily replied solemnly.

"Comms are dead too sir," Hermes added. John nodded slowly and watched as the fire slowly subsided.

"Sir?" Emily called to John. John turned around to pay her his full attention. "Do you want the good news, the not-so bad news or the worst news?"

"Nothing can be worse than the loss of our Colonies. Hit me with the worst," John told her.

"The Admiral Nagala's fleet is all gone sir. We don't have a single trace of them other than rubble," Emily said, reading it off her control panel.

"What's better than that?" John mumbled.

"Well sir, the Cylon Basestars are still here but they can't see us; they're recalling their Raiders. And sir," Emily looked up at John. "Our Battlestar Group survived sir," John's eyes widened in shock and his head spun around to look at the DRADIS panel which, as it began to clear, showed the same amount of green contacts in the same formation he had recognised for the last 10 years. The _Eos_ , _Theia, Themis_ and all of their support craft hung angelically – in John's eyes – in formation behind them.

"Colonel Virgon, give the word," John said. "We need to show those Cylons what-for before they jump away," Colonel Virgon, who had pretty much been silent since he entered before the attack, enthusiastically picked up his cord-phone and set it to intercom.

"Action Stations! Set Condition One throughout the ship. Gun crews man your posts and pilots prep your planes," The Colonel's booming, amplified voice ordered his crew. Suddenly, the mood of the ship changed from hopelessness to anger to an immediate desire for vengeance. As John's blood was pumped around his body and the adrenaline turbo-charged his brain, he was suddenly ready to go on the long haul and really take this war to the Cylons, even if they were the only ones that could.

Such hopeful dreams could not be achieved yet, however, as the currently retreating – or rather, moving on – Cylon Basestars were already prepping to jump.

On the exterior feed, John could faintly see the Basestars gradually pulling out whilst still recalling their Raiders, telling John that they were still concealed. "Miss Jartell," John said. "What is our current missile payload?"

"6 Nuclear and 18 Conventional, sir," Emily told the Admiral in response. "9 Conventional and 3 Nuclear are loaded at the moment,"

"Perfect. Target all of our batteries at the closest Basestar and order the _Themis_ to do the same. Then fire 3 Conventional missiles and 1 Nuclear at each of the other three and get the _Themis_ to do the same again and I need everyone else on defensive duty. That means flak in the barrels and birds in the air," John ordered. The crew got straight to work and the CIC lit up with voices and commands once again.

On the screen in front of him, John could see the partially armoured hull of the _Themis_ drift in front of the camera with a twin-engine-pod driven Gunstar providing support behind it. On the _Hyperion_ weapons and ammunition clanged around the corridors and hangars as the crew tried everything ready as quickly as possible. "Missiles ready to fire sir!" The Ensign at the Fire Control desk called to them.

"Synchronise with the _Themis_ then fire at will," John told the Ensign and – albeit indirectly – Emily. Moments later, John saw the doors of the missile launch tubes open right in front of the camera that fed them the feed from outside. John held his breathe as the missile were slowly raised into the firing position and then were pumped out at almost what-would-be sonic speed inside of atmosphere.

This attack caught the Cylons completely by surprise. The barrage of conventional missiles cut a hole into the Cylon hulls for their nuclear compatriot to destroy them from the inside-out; a strategy repeated on three of the four Cylon ships. As three of the Basestars exploded in the same firing agony as the Battlestars, the final Basestar turned towards the four Battlestars behind them and fired one lone missile before being struck to pieces by the second Colonial barrage, this time consisting of solely Railgun ammunition.

A great cheer went up around the CIC – which ended up spreading across the ship – as the final Cylon ship went down. Although this was only their first victory against the seemingly infinite Cylon fleet, it was defiantly the sweetest.

As the cheering began to die down, Emily called over the hubbub to John. "Your orders sir?" John raised a finger to Emily to tell to wait a minute as he stepped through the excited crowds inside the CIC.

"Can you set up a safe jump? We can't stay here for long or they'll send a battle-fleet to find what happened to the ships we just blew up," John said, trying to ignore the loud celebrations which he sadly knew couldn't last.

"How far away sir?" Emily asked. John gave a quick shrug.

"I don't know, but close enough so we can send a hyper-light transmission to anyone still alive. That is if the relays are still online," John said, referring to the hyper-light relays which allowed instant – or almost instant – communication between the far-apart Colonies.

"Copy that sir. I believe I have the coordinates for the Ouranos Asteroid Belt," Emily told him.

"Good, get us there Lieutenant. I'll draft a message in my office," John patted Emily comfortingly on the shoulder and walked through the CIC's revolving doors back to his quarters, where he could prepare a message that he hoped could change the course of the war.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

 _ **Admiral's Office, Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, Ouranos Asteroid Belt.**_

 _ **1 Hour After First Cylon Attack.**_

For an hour now, John had been struggling to find the right way of putting it. Telling what was left of the fleet what had happened wasn't going to be easy. The _Hyperion_ had already relayed the automatic destruction messages sent on each of the ship's destruction, but those could easily have been fabricated by the Cylons; so this would have to be the definitive proof.

John was sitting at his old-fashioned dark-wood desk, tapping away at his keyboard, which he had disconnected from his networked computer directly into the standard-issue military FAX machine. Apart from the tapping of the keys and the hum of _Hyperion_ 's engines, the room – which was much larger than almost all other rooms on the ship – was completely silent.

Finally, after three or four attempts, John completed the dispatch he was going to send out to the Fleet - or rather - what was left of the fleet. Hopefully he could gather what survivors there were left and get them to help get the civilians – who were supposed to be bound for Kobol in a few months time – off of the Colonies and away from the Cylon fleet.

Most of the _Hyperion_ 's crew had family and friends on those ships, not that they knew yet, of course. The secrecy of the mission meant that the passengers weren't even going to be told until they were being boarded onto the ships. Now, however, John decided to seriously consider breaking confidentiality to tell his thoroughly disheartened crew.

For now though, John printed his final version of the dispatch and read it over to himself. It read:

 _-Attention all Colonial vessels, Cylon forces have destroyed the Colonies along with a large amount of Colonial forces. As the highest ranked officer currently known to be alive, I am taking command of all remaining Fleet assets indefinitely. It is suspected that the Cylons have infiltrated the Command Network Program, also known as CNP, to infiltrate civilian and military systems. The Unified Military Control Protocol (UMCP) has so far not shown any signs of Cylon infiltration. I hereby order all ships to disconnect all network systems and revert to the UMCP as soon as possible avoid Cylon infiltration and to initiate Protocol Beta. Until then I bid you farewell and hope the Gods are merciful on all of us.-_

Finally satisfied with the message he would send to – hopefully – the rest of the Fleet, John turned on his heel and headed towards his bulkhead door at the side of his office. He took the wheel in the centre of the door and spun it around to unlock it and swung it open. John stepped through it and swung it behind him before meeting one of his pilots, Captain Harriet 'Hera' Gemini, who was standing just a few feet behind him, causing him to jump in surprise.

"Admiral," Captain Gemini said, snapping into a salute. John unenthusiastically returned the salute and started walking with Harriet tagging along behind.

"What's the matter, Captain?" John asked her.

"Lieutenant Jartell sent me to check on you sir... and to tell you our situation," The Captain explained. John started to slow down and looked inquisitively over his shoulder at Captain Gemini.

"Our _situation_?" John asked.

"Yes sir," Harriet quickly replied. "We made our jump and are hiding in an asteroid belt,"

"An asteroid belt? Which asteroid belt?"

"Ouranos, I believe," The Captain confirmed, although slightly unsure.

"Well then," John said sarcastically. "We'll be perfectly safe," Captain Gemini slowed down and looked slightly deflated. Suddenly remembering her problem with sarcasm, John quickly added: "Thank you for telling me Captain, is there anything else?"

"Emily asked me to find out how you were getting on with your 'message'," Harriet told him, illustrating apostrophes at the word _message_. In response, John lifted up the paper in his hand and showed it to the Captain before whipping it down to his side a second later. "Is that it?" She asked.

"It is," John replied. "I've got to get it sent out right away, who knows how many of us there are left," The pair fell into silence as they continued towards the CIC. After a few minutes of sombre silence, John decided to speak up to give a smidgeon of comfort to Harriet. "They're not gone by the way. At least I don't think so,"

Captain Gemini gave him a confused look. "Who?"

"You families of course. And you friends outside of the Fleet as well," John told her. As he said it he looked over at the squadron leader and saw a glint of hope in her eyes.

"They're... they're alive?" Harriet said, an energy like she had before the attack filling her voice once more.

"Probably," John cursed himself for having to be so vague, but he couldn't stand to see one of his favourite pilots in such hopelessness. "I'll explain over the intercom once I get to CIC. Don't tell anyone until then; am I clear?" John said commandingly.

"Yes sir!" Captain Gemini said, snapping into a salute before she turned on her heel and strode down the diverging corridor.

 _ **CIC, Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, Ouranos Asteroid Belt.**_

 _ **A Few Minutes Later, During the Fall of the Colonies.**_

The revolving glass doors of the _Hyperion_ 's CIC swung open and John stepped through them and faced his utterly disheartened crew. John walked over to the communications desk and stood to face Hermes. The ever-so-slightly plump Communications Officer took the paper in John's outstretched hand and quickly copied it into the computer.

Once Hermes had finished copying the paper into the computer, he handed it back to John who took it over to the command table and placed the paper down while picking up one of the cord-phones in his other hand. He held the phone upside down to his face and opened the intercom.

"This is the Admiral, may I have your attention please?" John said. He gave a quick pause before continuing. "We are just sending out a communication to the rest of the Fleet to inform them of what has gone on. But, you may be wondering, what if there is no one else out there? What if this Battlestar Group is the only one still alive?

"Well, I'll tell you, we are almost certainly not the last people in the universe. Our species is so resilient that when we lost our old home of Kobol, we simply picked up our bags and moved on. We didn't give up, we didn't surrender, we pushed on... like we always have. As of this moment, I am authorising all of our Raptors to begin recon and SAR operations across the four systems to find where the frak everyone is.

"For now though, I can tell one thing. Your families and your friends were all chosen months ago to undergo a journey back to Kobol to start a Colony and help the overpopulation crisis we are... were faced with here in the coming years. If the operatives leading that mission survived the initial attack, they will have got the passengers and freight required together and ready to go in order for us to pick them up. So that is exactly what we are going to do."

John finished his second speech of the day and placed the cord-phone back on its berth. He picked up the message and handed it to Emily to read, who was now standing just behind him. "What now sir?" Emily asked quietly over the Admiral's shoulder.

"Get the ship ready for combat. We need to leave this asteroid belt and keep moving. I also need you to take down the UMCP on all of my ships until we can build up sufficient firewalls so the toasters don't shut us down in two seconds flat," John told Emily.

"I'll get right on it sir," She replied quickly. John gave her a smile and she took the message back to her desk. Looking around the room, John suddenly noticed something, or rather, nothing.

"Emily? Hermes? Where the _frak_ has XO gone?" He asked. Both of them gave a quick shrug without looking up from their computers. John rolled his eyes and stepped out into the corridor to look for the Colonel. When he realised he couldn't see him, he turned back to Emily and Hermes. "I'll be right back," He said, then spun around and walked out of the CIC.

 _ **XO's Quarters, Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, Near the Ouranos Asteroid Belt.**_

 _ **During the Fall of the Colonies.**_

With tap on the steel bulkhead before him, John spun around the dial, unlocked the door, and stepped into his XO's room. John quickly closed it and walked around the corner to see his life-long friend sitting on his bed, automatic transmissions littered across the floor.

"Matt? What are you doing?" John asked cautiously. This was not a mood he had seen his friend in before, not that he could remember at least. He had always been the worried type, but never... whatever this was. John walked over to him and sat in the stock grey plastic chair at the side of the room.

"I'm checking the auto-distress signals," The Colonel, who was sitting with his uniform unbuttoned down to his belt.

"Okay... why?" John asked him again.

"We had 200 ships on standby John. The 200 transports. The lead ships would've sent out distress transmissions if some or all of the ships were destroyed," Matt explained.

"They were all grounded, Matt. There was no point of having them do nothing in space so I grounded them," John told his friend. Matt shook his head, although his sight did not break from the papers on the floor.

"I told them to leave the transmitters on," Matt said quickly.

"Why?" John asked.

"In case," Matt replied.

"In case of what?"

"In case of anything. Cylons, Sagittarians, rebellions, pirates. Whatever," Matt explained, trailing off at the end. He looked up at John suddenly and opened his mouth to say something but John quickly cut him off.

"We bugged their houses with speakers as well as microphones. They'll have been pointed in the right direction," John reassured Matt. There was a slightly awkward silence for a few moments while Matt finished scanning his eyes over each of the transmissions that wasn't broken until John stood up. "Right Matt," He said as he stood up. "Let's go back to CIC," John turned towards the door, expecting Matt to follow him; but when he didn't, John turned back around, straightened his uniform and shouted: "On your feet Virgon! Get that uniform together and get to CIC!"

After years of Colonial service, Matt instinctively stood to attention and started buttoning up his uniform. "Yes sir, sorry sir!" Matt shouted in reply. John let out a little chuckle and Matt stood back at ease. "You shouldn't do that John. I thought we were back on Admiral Winter's ship for a moment there," Matt joked.

"Yeah I know. Sometimes I think that-" John was about to regale one of their many adventures aboard the Battlestar _Themis_ during the First War, but he was interrupted by Emily sounding the ship-wide intercom.

" _Admiral Jenkins and Colonel Virgon to CIC immediately! We have a situation that requires your immediate attention!_ " John gave Matt a slightly surprised look before nodding and running to the door. Together, they unlocked the bulkhead and started running through the ship's tight corridors as the crew dived out of their way.

 _ **CIC, Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, Near the Ouranos Asteroid Belt.**_

 _ **During the Fall of the Colonies.**_

Through the glass of the revolving CIC doors, John could see a field of unidentified contacts on the DRADIS screens, whose backgrounds were flashing red. As he and Matt entered the room, they could hear the screen bleeping and the sounds of the crew talking to their compatriots across the ship and on the _Themis, Eos_ and _Theia_ as well as the rest of the Battlestar Group.

"Sirs," Emily said as they entered the bustling room. "We've got three, no, four capital sized ships on DRADIS. They jumped in a minute ago," John and Matt rushed to the centre table and stared at the flashing screens above them.

"Have they identified themselves yet?" John asked.

"Negative sir," Hermes said, joining in. "But they haven't launched anything as of yet,"

"Well that doesn't necessarily mean anything," Matt contributed.

"Emily can you get the feed on from outside?" John asked Emily. Emily searched on her computer for a moment before replying.

"No sir; looks like it was damaged in the jump," Emily reported.

"Gods damn it," John said, lightly punching the table. "Launch alert Vipers and set Condition One Lieutenant. And I want two Recon Raptors out there too," John ordered his crew. He turned his attention back to Colonel Virgon to get his reaction and asked him: "Ready?"

With a shrug, the Colonel replied. "Almost. Are our Networks down?"

"Good call," John said, remembering his thoughts from earlier. "Hermes, have the rest of the Battlestar Group taken down their UMCP Networks yet?"

"No sir, they'll take them down now," Hermes replied as he prepared to send the other ships a message. As John looked around the room, he met eyes with Emily while she continued to set things up on her screen in an anticipation of a possible attack.

Considering that the Colonies were currently being ravaged by the Cylons, and more might be about to destroy them, the whole seemed remarkably calm. Maybe it was shock, anger or maybe it was just the quiet will to survive that helped them keep their heads down and work like ants in a nest.

Only a few moments after he had given the order, Emily sounded the Condition One klaxon alarms and Colonel Virgon gave the orders for the rest of the crew stationed across the vast ship. "Alert Vipers are launching now sir," Emily called out; breaking John's train of thought.

"Right... yes... good," John stuttered, bringing his focus back into the room. "Get that feed up from our Raptors and man the guns," The crew instantly responded and got to their stations in anticipation.

The CIC sat in a tense silence for a couple of minutes, albeit for the sounding of the deep klaxons. "Vipers are formed up sir," Emily told John as they still awaited the launch of the Raptors. "Raptors are just taking off now. Putting them on screen," John and Matt looked up at the screens mounted from the ceiling and watched as a live feed from the front of the Raptor scout craft – which currently showed the dark interior of the _Hyperion_ 's flight pod – as it slowly lifted off from the deck.

The ship carefully drifted out of the flight pod and the camera showed footage of the Battlestar _Themis_ , which was currently sporting a slightly greater amount of armour plates than her sister ship _Galactica_.

The camera panned around as the Raptor's co-pilot tried to give John and the CIC the best view of what was going on. Suddenly though, the camera stopped turning and the Raptor came on the radio. "Hyperion, _Crow_ ," The pilot, Captain Karl 'Crow' Stone – a friend of Sidney's – said over the wireless. "We have a situation," John turned all his attention from the feed to the radio communication immediately, especially as the pilot's tone sounded almost... excited.

"Crow, _Hyperion_ : Go ahead," Hermes replied from John's side.

" _We have a visual on the contacts and... I think it would be better if you saw for yourself_ ," Crow trailed off and the camera swung around to reveal the rather battered hulls of four Colonial Battlestars, two Mercury-class like the _Hyperion_ , one smaller Odin-class and a final – similarly sized to the Odin – Sobek-class.

"What?!" John exclaimed in surprise. "How? How didn't we pick them up on DRADIS?" John shot Emily a confused look.

"I don't know Admiral. Their IFF signal transmitters must be down," Emily tried to explain. She tapped at her computer for a minute before adding: "Their Networks aren't sir,"

"Which Network?" John asked quickly.

"CNP Admiral, but we should be alright for now," Emily told him. John gave a short nod in response.

"Get ours back on again then Miss Jartell. Hermes, I need you to try and contact them,"

"Yes sir," Hermes and Emily chorused.

"And Matt," John said, raising Colonel Virgon's attention. "Get us back to Condition One. There's no point keeping everyone in suspense, is there?" Matt shook his head in reply and picked up his nearest Cord-phone to tell the crew to stand-down.

" _I would be so quick if I were you John_ ," A familiar voice said over the loud speakers. John looked over at Hermes who silently apologised for leaving the line on the speakers.

"That's alright Hermes, leave it," John said reassuringly. John went to speak to the familiar voice, but suddenly realised he wasn't actually sure who it was speaking. Luckily, a quick glance at the DRADIS screen showed him that the lead ship was the Battlestar _Mercury,_ first ship of the original Block of the Mercury-class Battlestar. That meant that the person he must be speaking to was the ship's relatively arrogant and overconfident Admiral Benjamin Berk, one of the youngest Admiral's in the Admiralty. "Admiral Berk," John said confidently. "I take it you got my message,"

" _Indeed I did. Sounds pretty bad on your front, but now we're together I'm sure we can lead the fleet somewhere safe_ ," Admiral Berk said, attempting to match the confidence in John's voice.

"We?" John enquired, not sure if he had made himself clear on the message about his taking complete control until the immediate safety of at least some of the human race had been assured.

" _Well of course we. Just because we're in a war doesn't mean you can jump on a perch and seize all of the power; it really isn't that democratic John. Although I'm sure you've been waiting for this ever since Rob started making headways towards being Fleet Admiral,_ " Admiral Berk said in an accusing tone.

"And just what are you insinuating, Ben?" John spat, almost as if he was dealing with a disobedient child.

" _Maybe you're not the person to be leading the Fleet if all you want is personal gain,_ " Berk accused.

"What?!" John said, aghast at what he was hearing. The war must already be getting to him, he thought. "I don't know who you take me for, _Admiral_ Berk, but I can assure you that my 30 years of additional experience gives me a good chance of securing the safety of our _race_. Once this has all calmed down you can have your say but until then you will follow my orders and you can start that by taking down your Network systems and make preparations for any Cylon contact," In anger, John slammed his cord-phone back in its berth, unbelieving of the fact that his 'ally', instead of wanting to secure the Fleet, clearly wanted the control of it himself.

"Admiral?" Emily asked quietly after a few tense moments. John looked around at his crew, who all stood silently, not sure what to do.

"Get back to work. Secure the current Fleet and make sure we are ready to jump at a moment's notice," John ordered, to stop his crew from standing around uselessly. Truthfully, he could understand why. John seemed to slowly be getting more and more stressed as the seconds unfolded. He wondered if he would be fully capable to run the Fleet by the time they were somewhere safe at this rate. Luckily though, he had his crew and they would make sure he was fit for duty; all he had to do was to live up to his promise and deliver them their loved ones safe and sound once all this was done.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

 _ **CIC, Battlestar Hyperion, Near the Ouranos Asteroid Belt.**_

 _ **3 Hours After the Attack**_

In the half-an-hour since the _Mercury_ and its Fleet had arrived, John had done surprisingly little. He had spent almost half that time talking around Admiral Berk and calming him down as much as was possible. The rest of the time he had spent checking manifests and talking to the COs of all of the other ships.

In the confusion he hadn't taken time to notice which ships had come with the _Mercury_. Three Battlestars, the _Atlas_ – the Mercury-class leader of the second group, the _Ceres –_ its Odin-class companion – and the _Sirius_ , a Sobek-class that was, in fact, John's first command 20 years prior. The Sobek-class, a sort-of cross between an Odin-class and a Mercury-class, was small but featured large, double-decked flight pods. Most of the Sobek's had been retired, with only six being in service when the Cylons attacked.

John, who still knew many of the crew members aboard the _Sirius_ , began to realise that maybe they may still stand a fighting chance in this still rather 1-sided war. Continuing on, John had a chance to read through the logs of his new ships and soon thereafter discovered that the _Mercury_ was being escorted to Scorpia by the Battlestars of BSG-35 (the Battlestar Group led by the _Atlas_ ) when the first Cylons hit. All their escorts ships were destroyed and Admiral Berk ordered the other ships to cover him while the _Mercury –_ and just the _Mercury_ – escaped.

Luckily for the other ships, the Commander of the _Atlas_ disobeyed Berk's order as soon as the _Mercury_ jumped and they followed before the Cylon Basestars did much damage. In fact, it had been Rear Admiral Grey – CO of the _Atlas_ – who had persuaded Admiral Berk to try and meet up with other ships in the first place, as the full Admiral had wanted them to strike out on their own.

The disregard with which Admiral Berk treated the ships under his command gave John the jitters. What if the _Hyperion_ went down and BSG-53 was left under him? What if they met up with the civilians and Berk abandoned them or stole their parts? John knew, unfortunately, that neither of these things were impossible and in fact very possible given Berk's track record. Over his career, Benjamin Berk had not been afraid to what he thought was 'right'. One good example John called to mind was the time when the Admiral initiated the self-destruct sequence on a Battlestar he found a few flaws on during his tests. He even managed to escape the law by justifying the executions of two of his own crew-members for disobeying his orders by saying they endangered the mission and the crew.

Truthfully, John didn't trust Admiral Berk as far as he could throw him and wasn't about to jeopardize his fleet, mission and species to appease a psychopath and stop him from taking over by force, whether or not that meant leaving him behind.

John had been quietly deliberating on his unenviable situation for a while now and had left the CIC and began walking aimlessly through the ship's corridors. As he slowly brought himself back into reality, he realised that he was towards the hangar. Before the war, John often enjoyed watching his crew working first-hand; he found it calmed him and reminded him that his crew were indeed just as human as him, and deserved no less than any of the others, regardless of rank.

To John, the hangar had always felt reassuring. He supposed it came from his time in the First Cylon War when he'd sit alongside Colonel Virgon in between missions. For John, the crackling sounds of welders and the persistent noise of chatter had helped calm him down then and continued to do the same now. He leant on the silver rail that ran alongside the top walkway and closed his eyes to concentrate further on the familiar sounds that graced his ears.

This peace was, however, rudely interrupted only moments after it started, by the repeating sound of footsteps coming from his right. John broke off his train of thought and turned towards the direction of the footsteps to his right. "Ah, Captain Gemini," He said seeing who the footsteps belonged to.

"Admiral," Captain Harriet 'Hera' Gemini said, stopping and standing to attention.

"At ease Hera," John said casually, beckoning the dark-skinned pilot over. "What going on?"

"Not much sir," Captain Gemini said, walking over to the rail and leaning on it next to John. "We're still shuttling things between us and the Fleet at the moment. Techs are still trying to take off the CNP from all our computers, but not all the ships are giving it up,"

"What do you mean Captain?" John asked her, slightly confused but completely understanding at the same time.

"All the ships are letting us take off the CNP networks from their computers, except one,"

"Let me guess..." John said to the Captain sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he spoke.

"Yeah, _Mercury_ 's even giving the poor old techs a hard time," John nodded at the confirmation of his guess and returned his gaze to the hangar in front of them. The two were silent for a few moments before Hera broke the silence.

"So what happens now?" She asked John. He looked over at her and saw the usually strong and straight-laced Captain looking decidedly... worried, and not for the first time today.

"Once Admiral Berk yields we can destroy any trace of the CNP and head back to the Colonies," John told her.

"The Colonies? Why?" Captain Gemini asked.

"We still have people back there. Our people. We're not going anywhere until they're safely with us," John told her, the tone of his voice turning slightly more commanding, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that the civilians were still alive, beyond all the doubt in his mind.

The two dropped back into a companionable silence until John glanced down at the watch on his left wrist and saw the time, or at least the time since the attack. After they found respite from the Cylons after the initial attack, John ordered Emily to reset all the clocks and timers on the Fleet to a new standard time, starting from the attack. As the hands on his watch indicated that it had been exactly 3 hours since the attack, John pushed himself off of the rail and reassuringly gripped Hera's shoulder before heading back towards the CIC.

 _ **CIC, Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, Near the Ouranos Asteroid Belt.**_

For the countless time on his short walk, the lights again flickered throughout the _Hyperion_. As if the small, dark corridors weren't bad enough for some crew-members – John had thought – the flickering of the lights were enough to make some very claustrophobic.

As John stepped through the CIC's revolving doors, he felt a rush of silent panic coming from all the crew in the room. Even though you could hear a pin drop, everyone was rushing around the room, whispering to each other and accessing things on their computer screens; or not as John later found out.

"What's going on? Is there a problem with the reactor?" John asked as he stepped up to the Command desk in the centre of the room.

"That's just it, sir," Emily told his as she rushed past. "We have no idea,"

"What?" John said in confusion. "What do you mean 'we've go no idea'?"

"She means just that. We don't know. All of our computers are offline," Colonel Virgon spoke up, whilst handing a clipboard back to a waiting Ensign. "We aren't sure why, but the running theory is that it may have something to do with the _Mercury_ ,"

"The _Mercury_? What about it?" John asked his XO directly. The Colonel shrugged his shoulders before responding.

"We're not sure; but seeing as how the only difference between us and them is their Network, that must be it," Colonel Virgon said.

"Ah gods dammit!" John cried out, slamming his fist into the table. In response, everyone in the CIC turned to stare at him. "That CNP is what the Cylons used to take out our Fleet in the first-place! If it's been compromised, we'll get shut down too if we don't disconnect from them!"

"Abandon them sir?" Emily asked the Admiral.

"No," John said, shaking is head violently as he spoke. "We don't leave anyone behind. Can we disconnect the other ships as well as ourselves?"

"Only the ones running UMCP," Hermes spoke up. John nodded to him.

"Do it!" John ordered. Emily ran to her desk and she and Hermes both quickly used their consoles to break free from the inter-connected Networks. John looked around at his crew as they watched on; excited, nervous, unsure and downright petrified. Each one seemed to have a unique emotion being felt in their mind. John took comfort in their humanity as they waiting for Emily and Hermes tapped away at their desks. John eyes flicked up to the currently unreadable DRADIS screen, that was exclusively filled with blue-grey static and flickers of green from the other Battlestars. As John stared at it he thought – just for a second – that he saw a couple of flickers of red crossing the screen before everything went black.

A wave of shock, fear and realisation came over John. For a few moments the whole CIC – and ship – was completely blacked out. After only a few seconds though – no matter how long they felt – the emergency red lights came on and the ship was once again illuminated, albeit a lot less than it had been.

"Admiral? Colonel? Are you okay?" Emily shouted as soon as the lights came back on.

"I'm fine," Colonel Virgon called back. "We're both fine," John gave a reassuring nod to his friend before looking at the crew around them.

"Miss Jartell, status report," John called to Emily, his eyes still trying to take in the entire room at once.

"Power's out. We've got no comms and DRADIS is down. For all we know there could be Cylons knocking on our front door," Emily reported back. John shook his head and chuckled awkwardly.

"I think there _are_ Emily. That's what's going on," John told her and, by extension, the crew. "Is the intercom working?"

"No sir," Hermes butted in. "We've got nothing inside the ship or out,"

"Thank you Hermes," John said. He silently beckoned Colonel Virgon away from the Command desk and towards Emily. The Colonel followed him to their Tactical Officer and stood around her desk. "I need a way to get gun crews to the cannons and pilots in the air. Have either of you got any suggestions?" John whispered to the two. Emily gave him a worried look and Colonel Virgon scanned the room behind him.

"A runner?" The Colonel suggested.

"Yeah why don't we-" John started saying before the CIC's door swung open and a tall-blonde deck hand ran in. "Umm, hello?" John said as the woman ran in and stood to attention without saying anything.

"Specialist Sally Six, sir. Mates call me Six," The woman said, snapping into a salute as she did.

"And?" Colonel Virgon snapped.

"We've lost power, but... I see everyone has too so..." Six started trailing off.

"Specialist, is everything alright?" Emily asked in a reassuring tone.

"We can't launch the birds sir. Or even get our pilots into them," Six told them. "Someone from the gun crew told me the same thing on the way here,"

"Power's locked us down, we're dead in space," Colonel Virgon said exhaustedly.

"Not yet we're not!" Hermes called to them, just as he pushed one of the buttons at his console and all the lights and screens came back on again. John let out a sigh of relief and collective cheer came from the crew. "Oh wait hold on," Hermes shouted, prematurely interrupting the celebrations. "Admiral you need to see this,"

"I see it too," Emily chorused as the Admiral and Colonel gathered next to Hermes.

"Radiation levels are off the charts," Hermes told them.

Behind them, one of the crew-members let out a huge gasp as she stared at the DRADIS screen. "It... it's gone!" She whimpered. In panic, John spun around like lightning and looked at it too. On the screen, right were the _Mercury_ had sat, four unidentified red signals were displayed.

"Cylons! And they have nukes. Emily!" John called. "Tell our ships to fire as much flak fire as frakking possible right frakkin' now!"

"And set Condition One for frak's sake!" Colonel Virgon quickly added as the two reached their usual spots around the centre of the room. Around them – like clockwork – the crew immediately got back to their jobs as the deep klaxon's started ringing. As John began to brace himself for the worst, _Hyperion_ shook violently from something hitting her on the port side.

"What was that?!" John cried out to Emily.

"Uh... no idea sir. It hasn't done any damage!" Emily told him, in a mildly surprised voice.

"Okay fine, we'll deal with it later. For now we need to focus on getting out of here!" John ordered.

It was only five minutes, but it was certainly the longest five minutes of his life. John watched the screen anxiously as the feeds from Vipers, guns and escort ships flickered to life around him and showed the extremely ominous Cylon Fleet surrounding the ever expanding fireball once known as the Battlestar _Mercury_. The Colonial ships were scattering here and there, trying to find the quickest route back into the asteroid belt.

"Emily how are our FTL drives coming along?" John asked across the bustle of the CIC.

"Only just charging sir, the were powered down during the blackout," Emily, who had taken command of jumping them away, told John and Colonel Virgon.

"What about our birds?" John asked Hermes.

"Still in the tubes sir. Do you want them to launch yet?" Hermes asked in reply.

"No, keep them there. I don't want to have to deal with birds in the air when we have to jump," Right as John finished speaking to Hermes, two impacts in quick secession rocked the ship.

"We may not be able to jump at this rate sir," Emily shouted. "We just took two conventional missiles to the aft; the toasters are trying to take out our FTL drives,"

"That isn't good, focus flak in that area," Colonel Virgon ordered as John was beckoned over by Hermes walked past him and stood behind him, who had comms open all of the other ship.

"What's the matter Mr Yo?" John whispered as _Hyperion_ took another hit.

"It's Admiral Grey, from the _Atlas_ ," Hermes told him in reply. John held out his hand and Hermes reached below his desk to bring out a small headset that was connected to his main computer via a thin wire. John slipped it over his head and adjusted the microphone before speaking.

"Put me through," John ordered Hermes, oh quickly obliged and put the Admiral through. John waited for a moment before he heard the static cut out and give way to a familiar gravely voice.

"John," Admiral Grey said to John.

"Jeremy," John replied. "It looks like your up for a promotion very soon," Both men chuckled, despite the situations going on around them.

"Yeah, no retirement for me..." The Rear Admiral paused briefly and collected his thoughts before continuing his conversation with John. "Thing is John, it isn't that simple. Our FTL drives are faltering, we think they've been hit and the _Ceres_ is reporting similar albeit much more serious damages," John looked desperately at Hermes who had been listening in due to standard Fleet regulations. Hermes gave John a subtle nod and brought a recently taken photograph from one of _Hyperion_ 's Assault Raptors showing the damages sustained on the rear end – or rather what was left at the end – of the _Atlas_ and then of the completely separated flight pod from the _Ceres_ whose main hull wasn't fairing much better.

"I have to say," John said, trying to start a joke. "For a Rear Admiral you seem to be missing an awful lot of rear," Both men broke into another, more sorrowful chuckle.

"John you see, the thing is: we still have all our guns and our missiles are primed but are slightly damaged," Admiral Grey told John.

"How so?"

"They've got no fuel,"

"So they're useless?" John asked in a mixture of confusion and dismay.

"No, the launchers themselves will have enough strength to dumb-fire them... but we'll need to get close,"

"How close?"

"Too close," Grey said.

"Oh no you don't!" John ordered.

"I'm sorry John, but we need to. We can take out all, or at least most, of those ships and you can get away otherwise you're all stuck here." John's hands balled into a fist as Admiral Grey spoke because he knew Grey was right.

"What about the Sirius?"

"She's fine. Commander Jorge Wilson can get away with you,"

"Fine then, abandon ship and remotely detonate it,"

"We can't. My CIC crew are willing to go with me until the end but I can send everyone else to Raptors or shuttles, but I'm not leaving this room," John took a deep breath as he listened to the Rear Admiral's words and gritted his teeth as he replied.

"Fine," John said painfully. He reached up to his headset and was about to take it off when he decided to finish it properly. "Jeremy..."

"Yes John?"

"Good hunting,"

"Always Admiral, thank you," Admiral said, before cutting the line. John looked down at Hermes and handed him the headset. He nodded towards Hermes comms switches and the Petty Officer hailed the other ships of – what was left of – the fleet as John headed back to the centre of the room and surveyed the feeds on the screens above him.

Between the smoke trails of the missiles, the fire spat out by the flak cannons and the buzzing dots of Cylon Raiders, John watched as large numbers of small craft launched from both the _Ceres_ and the _Atlas_. The Admiral had clearly prepared for his suicide run as the ships' Vipers covered the escaping shuttles as they left the flight pods of both ships. The two great hulks then turned directly towards the Cylon Basestars and their flak fire abruptly stopped and heavy railgun rounds spat out of the turrets around the ships.

Then John saw the Cylon Raiders break away from them and towards the approaching shuttle craft as the old Battlestar _Themis_ launched her alert Vipers and sent them towards the retreating Raiders. Even more fire filled the screen as Raiders were quickly being disassembled by the Vipers and the Base-ships turned their attention to the rapidly approaching _Atlas_ and _Ceres_.

As the surviving Raiders broke away from attacking the shuttle and headed back to protect their command vessels, the fires of battle almost immediately receded and – apart from a few of _Hyperion_ and the other ships guns' firing some carefully placed shots back towards the Basestars – John could see clearly as the _Atlas_ and her smaller compatriot blasted towards the Basestars before the screen filled with blinding light and then returned to the inky-blackness once again after the all-to familiar noise of a Colonial FTL jump.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

 _ **CIC, Battlestar Hyperion, Near the Ouranos Asteroid Belt.**_

 _ **03:19 PFT (Post-Fall Time)**_

As the sound of the FTL drives slowly faded as the drives power down once again, John stood over the Command desk silently, feeling a perfect storm of fear, dread, anger and regret. He couldn't get over the feeling that there was more that could have been done, that could've prevented the loss of three powerful Battlestars, a loss which could set back any hope for a straight war by a long way.

Thanks to the ambiguity of both their escapes from the Cylons as far as they were concerned, John knew that they may yet still hold the element of surprise. Being myth is much safer than being a hero, John thought as he tried to reconcile himself with the loss of thousands, or so he thought anyway...

"Admiral. Report from the hangar!" Shouted one of the ship's Ensigns; unnecessarily loudly as John noted.

"What is it Ensign?" John called back; much quieter than the Ensign had.

"The survivors from the other ships are unloading from their shuttles sir," The Ensign told him. John let out huge sigh of relief before responding.

"Great news Ensign, thank you," John said, relieved. "Emily would you like to come with me down to the hangar deck? Colonel Virgon, you have the floor," John gave his still rather shaken friend a heartfelt smile then spun around and lead Emily out of the doors and right down the corridor.

John was walking silently down the surprisingly empty corridors with Emily at his side, only a couple of hundred metres from the hangar when he stopped dead in his tracks. "What's the matter John?" Emily asked, slightly unsettled by her commanding officer's sudden stoppage.

"Umm... Nothing Emily, I'm just..." John trailed off as he started listening as intently as he could to the wall on his right, pressing himself right up to it.

"John?" Emily asked again, now rather concerned by his behaviour. She started walking slowly towards him when the lights flickered menacingly, just like they had before the ambush only a short while ago.

"Do you hear that?" John said, suddenly pulled away from the wall, his hand instinctively dropping to his side-arm holster on his hip.

"Hear what John? What's going on?" Emily, whose heart was beginning to race, looked around for an intercom phone to alert CIC. "Okay John, we need to go back," She said, after failing to locate one of the many cord-phones located around the ship.

"Okay fine, let's get back," John replied. He pulled his side-arm from its holster and broke into a jog down the corridor for about ten metres when stopped abruptly, just before they reached a junction in the corridors. Then he darted to the left wall and pinned himself up against the wall in-between the structural pillars that stuck out from the wall by about 2 feet. He looked around at Emily, who he saw had followed him in the next alcove along and had her weapon drawn as well. He put his index finger to his lips and waited.

Then, they heard the sound of footsteps; but unlike the sound a walking crewman or running marine, these were slow, equidistant and... metallic. And then they saw it. Seven feet of shiny silver metal, so shiny they could see their reflections bouncing off it. Emily flattened herself as much as possible to stop herself from being seen by its constantly moving, red glowing eye. Both Emily and John held their breaths like their lives depended on it, which – depending on the Cylon Centurion's hearing – they very well might.

After an agonising few moments, the Centurion began walking off when the sound of distant gunfire signalled the start of its assault. It took a few slow steps down the crossing corridor before astoundingly breaking into a sprint and darting away from John and Emily. The two synchronously let out the breath they had been holding and stood out from their alcoves. "What the frak?!" Emily said, as she continued to gasp for air.

"Centurions," John replied, confirming what didn't need to be confirmed. "Big one too. I doubt we're going to take one of them without armour piercing rounds," Emily held up a finger to John to indicate he should wait while she searched through her pocket. A moment later her other hand emerged, balled into a fist. She lowered her finger and held out her hand to John before unravelling it. In the palm of her hand where three spare explosive rounds she had been preparing to dispose of earlier in the day before the attack. "Cheers Emily. Swap?" John said holding out his side-arm (which was in fact a vintage revolver John kept hold of for sentimental reasons). Emily pulled out her standard-issue side-arm and swapped weapons with him as he took the explosive rounds as well.

John quickly took Emily's side-arm and stuck one of the large rounds in the bottom barrel, then switched off the safety. "Ready?" John asked Emily, who looked up at him after inspecting the revolver. She gave him a quick nod and the two stepped out into the second corridor, only to be met by a silver plated Centurion as it attempted to run after its compatriot. John immediately spun around, threw himself as Emily to knock them onto the floor and fired the explosive round at its chest. The round then did exactly what it said on the tin and created a fireball as it cut through the Cylon's armour. Its shell fell the to the floor next to John and Emily as they stood back up, dusted themselves off and ran down the corridor, hoping to find where the first Centurion was heading.

 _ **Battlestar Hyperion, Near the Ouranos Asteroid Belt.**_

 _ **03:30 PFT (Post-Fall Time)**_

In the five or so minutes since their first encounter with the Centurions between the hangar and CIC, the sound of distant small arms fire could be heard coming from all directions. John, knowing Cylon tactics from the first war, led Emily and a lone Marine they had found unconscious (who Emily had managed to awaken after they found him) down towards the hangar deck. They had tried the direct route, but it was blocked off by a door the Cylons rigged to stay shut. The marine – who was actually Sergeant-at-Arms Lewis Doyle – had helped them take out a second Centurion with the AP rounds he scavenged before coming face-to-face with a Centurion in a similar situation to when John and Emily encountered their first.

As they slowly made their way down the levels and through the empty sections of the ship, John began to grow more and more disturbed as to the whereabouts of the crew, but hey continued on as the lights continued to flicker. Ahead the sound of heavy gunfire grew louder and John began to suspect some pilots and marines had set up a defensive line in front of the hangar.

When they got within a hundred metres of the entrance to the hangar, the pops and bangs of constant gunfire grew intense and John knew that there were definitely more than a few Cylons on the ship. As the corridor they were following curved around to the left, John as usual drew up against the inside wall and poked his out around the side. Beyond them, the Admiral could see two Centurions – their guns firing at a constant, seemingly indefinite, rate – backing up, away from the hangar where the Colonial forces there were seemingly forcing them to retreat.

Then, as the Centurions crossed the junction to John's corridors, a final Centurion appeared, also in retreat. However this Centurion had something – or rather, someone – in its grasp. It stopped firing and galloped off once it had cleared the junction, which allowed John, Emily and Sergeant Doyle to jog safely to where part of the crew were obviously holding out. John directed Emily and Doyle to back up against the wall. They did as he directed and followed him up against the wall, obscuring them from view of their Colonial allies.

"This is Admiral Jenkins. Do not fire!" John said, holding out his right hand, his weapon still clasped in it. He held it out for just a moment before dropping it onto the floor. John then again waited for a couple of moments before stepping out with his hand visible. As he stepped out, he saw six of his black-clad Colonial Marines standing – weapons raised – around their leader, Major Halway.

"Admiral! Thank the gods," Sidney Halway said, relieved. John waved Emily and Sergeant Doyle out of their cover and kept an eye on them as they collected up his side-arm. "We've taken down about four at the moment and we believe there to be anything up to twenty on the ship,"

"Buckle up then, we've got a hell of a fight to win," John told them confidently, trying to boost the morale of the shaken group in front of him. "How many men have we lost?"

"Not many sir, although we aren't sure on numbers elsewhere on the ship," Spinner said in reply. John nodded as he thought. "I'd estimate we've still got at least 200 Marines on the ship and all but one of my pilots,"

"Who'd we lose?" Emily interrupted; concerned that one of her friends might have been killed.

"Just Popsicle, the new kid," Sidney said reassuringly. "He met a toaster right in the face. Didn't even stand a chance," Spinner fell silent, recalling the event in his mind. Emily maintained a respectful silence until the Admiral spoke again.

"How many did you say boarded Sidney?" John asked Major Halway, a thought brimming in his mind.

"Twenty sir," Spinner replied. "We found their ship and it could only hold twenty. They seemed outfitted for that many as well so I doubt they would've come with any less," John took a pause to check if his theory was still viable before speaking.

"Good, just remember that they _always_ travel in pairs. If you take one down there'll be another one not far behind. That being said," John continued. "We already took down two Centurions when they were on their own, so there might be two lone-wolves out there and let me tell you from experience: they won't be taking prisoners," John told his men, making they understood the severity of the situation. The Marines and pilots nodded their agreement to John before he turned and led them back into the ship after the Cylons.

After picking up every scent, sound and spent bullet casing for about 15 minutes, John finally found what he was looking for. "Here!" He shouted. He checked over his shoulder and ran over to a cord-phone terminal on the wall near a junction in the corridor. He pulled it out of its berth, tapped in the number for Hermes in the CIC and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" A crackly voice asked, slightly nervously.

"Hermes?" John asked, unsure as to the identity of the officer using the Petty Officer's terminal.

"Sir...? Yes, it's me... Hermes," The voice responded. John paused for a minute, now suspicious of the voice.

"Have the Cylons entered the CIC yet?" John asked slowly, still unsure about what he might be fuelling.

"No sir," The voice replied instantly and – John noted – rather robotically.

"Okay then..." John mumbled. "Then seal of CIC and wait for us, we'll be there in just a minute,"

"By your command. Is there anything-" John immediately tore the phone cord and severed the connection to the CIC. He then spun around, drew his weapon, and shot the CCTV camera that watched the phone-terminal.

"For frak's sake!" John cursed, seemingly loud enough for the whole ship to hear him. "They've got CIC," John told the puzzled group behind him.

"What do you mean, sir?" Sidney asked, already afraid of the answer.

"The Cylons have CIC and probably everyone in it," John said, balling his fist so tight he could feel his finger nails digging into his palm.

"Then, what do we do?" Emily spoke up, once again fearing for her friends.

"We need to get to the secondary CIC. If Matt's alive he'll head there first," John replied.

"What do the toasters want with the CIC?" Sidney asked the Admiral.

"They want to take control of our ship, vent us into space, turn our guns on the Civilian Fleet when we find it and activate a Hyper-light beacon telling their 'friends' where to find us before blowing the rest of the Fleet out of the frakking sky!" John spat, using his knowledge of the fate of the _Cerberus_ ' and her fleet from the Second Battle of the Gemenon Reaches back in the first war.

"No biggie then?" Sidney joked, which was met with silence. An awkward moment later, the pilot spoke up again. "So, secondary CIC?" Sidney asked.

"This way," Sergeant Doyle told them as he stepped past the group and headed for the left-hand corridor that separated from theirs just a little ahead of them.

The popping sound of gunfire got louder and louder as the group headed down the ever darkening corridor towards the ship's secondary command centre. They hadn't seen a Cylon in a significant by the time they reached the final ladder that dropped them down onto the same level as the second CIC. Sergeant Doyle, who was still leading them, halted the group around the top of the ladder and peaked under the roof of the lower level. His gun raised, the short man searched around the room at the bottom, of the short ladder.

"Anything Sergeant Doyle?" John whispered as the Sergeant continued to scan the other room.

"Nor sir, I think we're..." The Sergeant trailed off as he heard the hum of the Centurion's perpetually moving, glowing red eye. Sergeant Doyle immediately went silent waved his arm frantically behind him to signal the others to take cover. They did so and he watched intently as a Centurion marched around the ladder in the centre of its room below them and continued on through the door clearly visible to them on the other side of the room. Sidney took to his feet and started standing up when John grabbed his collar from behind and forced him back onto the ground.

"Pairs!" John whispered forcefully.

"Of course, sir. Sorry sir," Sidney replied submissively. Sure enough, seconds later, a second Centurion followed his partner into the room. It was then, suddenly and silently – like cat pouncing upon its prey – that Sergeant Doyle jumped to his feet and slid down the railings of the ladder towards the unsuspecting Cylon below. The other Marines followed suit as Sergeant Doyle got the Cylon's attention by firing an armour-piercing round right into the back of its head before it even had chance to raise its weapons in response.

John, Emily and Sidney scampered down the ladder as the Cylon's limp shell collapsed in a heap on the floor. Around them, the Marines swept every corner of the room and set up sight lines down the adjacent corridor. "Good work there Sergeant," John told Sergeant Doyle.

"Just doing the job, Admiral," The Sergeant replied courteously, although a smile danced subtly over his lips from the pleasure he took in taking his revenge on the destructors of their homeworlds. John continued past Doyle and poked his head out from the side of the doorway in front of them that had been semi-secured by the Marines after the destruction of the Centurion.

"Any sign of more?" Sidney asked as he stepped up behind John.

"Not yet, but since he isn't back yet I bet he'll have gone to find some more friends," John told Sidney.

"Our next move?" Emily asked, joining them in the empty doorframe.

"I'd say rig the room to blow when the rest come back," Sidney suggested. Emily pulled him around by his shoulder and stood up to her full height, which was still half-a-head below the Major.

"Sid, I don't know if you've noticed, but we are on a _Battlestar_! Which, I hope you realise is a ship... in space! We can't simply blow up an entire room and expect not to be sucked into oblivion!" Emily shouted, trying to counter Sidney 'clear stupidity'.

"Actually Emily," John interrupted, drawing the attention of the two fighting parties. "I do believe in our central location, we wouldn't be taking too much of a risk,"

"Sir?" Emily asked, confused as to why the Admiral wasn't taking her side.

"I agree sir," Sergeant Doyle said, adding to the discussion whilst still watching their rear. "We are far enough away from both the ship's exterior and any armouries that armour piercing fragmentation explosives would only caused paint-scratching at worst, minor structural damage at worst,"

"Precisely. We can't risk structural damage when we are obviously going to need it in a much shorter timeframe than you boys seem to be expecting," Emily snapped, significantly louder and fiercer than she had in the past.

"At this rate there won't be much structure left to damage," John said, concluding the argument and silencing any noises of complaint from Lieutenant Jartell. "Set the explosives and meet down the hall in two minutes. Can you fire them remotely?" He asked.

"Of course sir," Doyle replied.

"Then we'll see you when it's done," Sergeant Doyle gave the Admiral a salute which the Admiral returned before he started leading a contingent of Marines out of the room and down the corridor while also dragging Emily by her arm behind them.

John was leading the group at quite a rate away from the area of the blast when the explosives rocked the ship, as if a small ground-quake had shook the ground beneath them. Behind them, Sergeant Doyle and two of the black-clad Marines came sprinting away from the explosion. The three came to a halt behind John and the others and took a second to catch their breath before responding. "Three down sir," Sergeant Doyle said between breaths.

"Very good work Sergeant," John commended the men before him. "But we haven't got time to celebrate. There could be anything up to ten toasters sitting in my bridge as of this moment and I need them gone. Are we ready?" John asked, looking around at everyone. They all nodded in acknowledgment and the Admiral turned on his heel and marched on down the corridor leaving the others to keep up.

Fifteen minutes – and three Centurions – later, John, the marines and a few extra crewmembers picked up along the way, reached the final junction to the corridor that lead alongside the CIC and connected into it through the rotating doors. Sergeant Doyle was following on from the rear, covering them whilst simultaneously speaking to a few of his colleagues on the re-opened radio link to the rest of the ship which – fortunately for them – the Cylons didn't seem to know about, at least John didn't think they did or else he wouldn't have allowed them to continue sending messages to each other. "Any idea of numbers in there Sergeant?" Emily asked, her spirit lifted after the success of the explosives in only destroying the Cylons a while previously.

"Hold on," Doyle said to quiet her. "I'm just getting to that," The Sergeant lifted the hand-held radio to his ear and listened intently for a moment before speaking again, leaving the group in an anticipative silence. "We have one Centurion trying to get back into the hangar but we've got it secured and another two trying to reach Fire Control,"

"Is Fire Control secure?" John asked concernedly.

"Of course sir, I've got five men down there at the moment," The Sergeant told John reassuringly. John nodded as he counted up the numbers in his head.

"We've taken down nine and with five elsewhere, there must be eight around CIC," Emily said before John could.

"Yes, and I assume that'll mean four inside and four out," John guessed. He took a deep breath as he silently glided over to the corner of the junction and – his back to the wall – peeked around the corner, grimacing in case he came face-to-face with another Centurion. Luckily however, John saw an empty corridor for about five to ten metres down to the entrance to the CIC which had two Centurions standing watch.

The Admiral gesticulated towards one of the Marines' rifle indicated for the soldier to throw it to him. The Marine did as he was told and threw his rifle to John who caught it and pointed it around the corner, his eye glued to the scope. John moved the gun stealthily around until he saw the red reticule fall over the closer Cylon's head. He took a slow breath as he tightened his index finger around the trigger and – careful not to fire accidentally in the wrong direction – gently squeezed it until the rifle fired a single shot at the Centurion's head.

John then watched as the Centurion spun around to react and saw the bullet he had fired ping off of the side of the Centurion's shiny silver skull. "Frak..." John whispered surprise. "Frak!" John repeat, albeit at a shout rather than a whisper.

As the two Centurions started marching towards them John threw down the rifle in panic and looked frantically around at the other Marines' weapons. "Who here actually has explosive or AP rounds in their weapon?" John asked frantically as the Cylons closed in. One of the Marines raised his hand and offered up his rifle to the Admiral. John slapped it away and said: "Don't frakking give it to me! Shoot for the gods' sakes!" The Marine and three of his compatriots nodded and raised their weapons as the Centurions appeared around the corner. The Marines opened fire as the others, who still had special rounds in their side-arms pulled out their weapons and joined in. The Centurions did the same and cut down the first two Marines and a deckhand behind them before being taken down by all thirteen standing Colonials.

Emily reached down to the fallen men and women but was pulled up synchronously by Sidney and John who lead the others charging into the corridor to get as far as possible before more Centurions appeared to stop them.

Sergeant Doyle led his Marines to pin themselves along the adjacent wall to the entrance into the CIC as John told his people to do the same. John and Doyle took to the front of the Colonial line as the doors opened again and another Centurion came out to greet them. This time, however, the Colonials were prepared and met the Centurion in turn with AP rounds directly to the head as it fired its one and only shot, which impacted Emily in the shoulder forcing her to collapse to the ground. "Storm the CIC!" John ordered Sergeant Doyle when he saw Emily fall down behind the Marines. Sergeant Doyle nodded and barked an order at his men before charging through the slowly closing doors.

Sidney and John caught Emily as she collapsed onto the floor, blood starting to pour out from the wound on her shoulder. The Lieutenant started to lose consciousness as Sidney attempted to cover the wound with his hands and John tried to keep her awake. Slowly though, her eyes closed softly and John reached his fingers through her hair to her neck where he tried to find a pulse which – to his relief – he did find.

As John's mind returned to the battle however, he heard nothing but the loud bangs of gunfire from the room next-door and... footsteps. Fearing the worst John stood up and was faced down by a charging Centurion that had come around from the other side of the CIC to flank them at the front door. As soon as John could raise his weapon however, a series of shots from the other side of the Cylon caused it to fall flat on the floor, just a metre from the last crewman at the back of the group.

Behind where the Centurion had previously stood, John watched as two familiar figures led their own small group of survivors down the corridor, rifles raised. Captains Gemini and Stoneham, the leaders of the group came to a halt over the fallen Centurion. "What's going on?" Hera asked, her eyes falling to Emily on the ground.

"Emily got hit and Doyle's storming the CIC," John informed them quickly, pointed to both the injured Lieutenant and the door behind him.

"I've got this," Karl 'Crow' Stoneham told Hera and John as he set off towards the CIC to help Doyle with four armed deckhands and a Marine following on behind. As they reached the doors however, the gunfire stopped and Doyle emerged, dragging out an old man dressed in a Colonial uniform.

"What's this, Sergeant?" John asked Doyle as he read the patch on the officer's shoulder which indicated that he was the XO from the _Mercury_.

"This one was with the toasters. He got them to stop firing," Doyle said angrily. He shoved the Colonel onto his knees in front of John and nodded over his shoulder to his Marines who put a series of rounds in the two surviving Centurions who had been 'told' to surrender by the weathered old man in front of John.

"Is it true?" John said, not surprised that someone would attempt to save themselves by cooperation, even if this particular way was rather unorthodox.

"Of course, God's cleanse must be fully achieved," The old man said. John rolled his eyes, remembering the one-god-worshipping Cylon sympathisers from the First War.

"What's his name?" John asked Doyle.

"John Cavil. Colonel John Cavil," The man said, standing up and answering the question for the Sergeant. Cavil held out his hand for John to shake, which John promptly slapped away.

"Why?" John asked plainly and simply.

"It is the will of God and the will of my people," Cavil replied. "Humanity must fall," At this, John gave Doyle a quick, confirming look and the Sergeant shoved Cavil back onto his knees.

"And you don't even try and deny it?" John asked.

"Of course not. I'm proud of what I did for my people," Cavil told him. "And I hope you will be too," The old Colonel said to Specialist Sally Six, who was one of Crow's group about to enter the CIC.

"Don't bring anyone else into this!" John snapped. "Now what people are you talking about?"

"The great Cylon of course," Cavil proclaimed. John rolled his eyes.

"Fine then," John sighed. "Have it your way," And with that, John pulled out his side-arm and shot Cavil through the skull.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

 _ **Battlestar**_ **Hyperion** _ **, Inter-planetary Space, Cyrannus System**_

 _ **05:02 PFT**_

It had only been an hour since the Cylons had been repelled off of the _Hyperion_ and Major Sidney 'Spinner' Halway was already late. The Major had been hanging around the hangar with his pilots, attempting to take their minds off of the perilous situation with a bottle of Gemenese scotch that Crow had 'found' during the standoff with the Centurions. Now, however, Spinner and a couple of his compatriot pilots were charging along the corridors trying the quickest way back to CIC. They had only managed to take the top off the bottle when a stressed CIC Ensign appeared at the table and dragged Spinner, Hera and Crow back to CIC for a pre-planned meeting Spinner assumed had been called off after the boarding, but that was clearly not the case.

More and more hapless crewmembers were knocked out of the way of the group as they ran further into the ship, only stopping to climb a ladder or some stairs. Never in Spinner's 10 years of service had he been late to one of Admiral Jenkins' meetings; in fact, it was usually him running to get the latecomers. Spinner had no idea what had come over him since the attack. He didn't feel any more fearful or stressed than he did on any of _Hyperion_ 's previous combat missions and the only other feeling he had in his body had been that of pure adrenaline for most of the time since the attack.

He supposed that it was probably just shock keeping him from working at 'peak efficiency'. Already today he had missed on about five kills during air combat and nearly walked his team headfirst into a Centurion booby-trap during their boarding. To be fair however, most of the other pilots seemed to be reacting to it all in the same was Spinner was; bar Captain Gemini, of course.

While she was only young at 22 years of age, Hera had already been entrusted the training of new recruits by the Admiral, who was determined to cultivate her natural leadership talents at any opportunity that arose; a fact that not sit well with John's previous 'apprentice', Spinner himself. It had been Admiral Jenkins who had got Sidney into the Fleet in the first place by placing a recommendation for him at Admiral Walker's door. Spinner now realised he really had to show his worth not only to keep his position in the Fleet, but also to help it survive by not having slow days like the one he was in the middle of.

The party rounded the last corner and Spinner – followed by Crow and Hera – bounded through the back door to the CIC and accidentally interrupted Admiral Jenkins as he was speaking to the other section leaders on the ship. "Good afternoon pilots, how nice of you to join us," John joked as they slinked into position around the central command table. Still catching his breath, Sidney picked up one of the information sheets that had be pre-prepped for them and caught up with what the Admiral was talking about before actually paying attention to him.

"...so as of this moment we still haven't had any communications from our civilian fleet or any surviving military vessels although it is possible that the civilians are safely hiding somewhere with a Battlestar or friendly fleet. However, given our limited time frame in which to work, we them to stop hiding and come find us," John explained. While the Admiral spoke, Spinner had looked around at the others surrounding the table, whose number included the Commanders from the Fleet's Battlestars and constituent fighter squadron leaders. "But until they decide to go and do that, we need to make finding them a top priority. To do that, however, we need to redirect all of our scouts to the search and sacrifice the protective net that they are providing our Fleet with and we'll be blind if the Cylons attack us,"

"Then why not only Raptors from _Hyperion_ and let the other Raptors continue their close-range duties?" The withered Commander of the Battlestar _Theia_ , Commander Dale Linear asked.

"Because we need to scout the upper atmospheric layers of each gas giant in the Four Systems as well as scan every inch of asteroid belt we can find. To do all that without being stuck here for weeks will take every light craft we can get hold of," John replied calmly and authoritatively. The room was silent for a few moments before someone else plucked up the courage to challenge the Admiral.

"Haven't we just tried to call them out from where they're hiding?" Crow asked, wondering why no-one else had brought that up already.

"We don't have encryptions strong enough to stop the Cylons from hacking it and reading it, thereby instantly learning our location," John replied, who himself wished it were that easy. As a sombre silence fell over the CIC, Spinner suddenly came up with an idea (or possibly a death wish, but there was nothing else he could think of).

"What if," He started slowly, making sure he had everyone's attention before continuing. "We just did it... the old fashioned way,"

"The old fashioned way?" John asked, completely unsure on what the Major's response would be.

"Yeah. Why don't we just send them a message telling them where we are?" Spinner's response drew a mixture of intrigued and dismissive responses from the surrounding crowd.

"That sounds like a very efficient method of suicide Major. Is that what you want or is there a greater purpose to this charade?" Colonel Virgon said sarcastically.

"Of course there is Colonel. You see, the Cylons will be expecting a high-tech solution wherein we use a combination of ten layers of encryption, a secret hyperlight beacon and our own version of Morse Code to contact our allies. Partner that with the fact that they don't even know if we survived in the first place, they probably won't be looking for a couple of lone Raptors transmitting a standard telecoms message," Spinner said, finally revealing his plan.

The room was then silent as the pilots and leaders of the Fleet considered the plan. A few seem bewildered that this was even being considered but the Admiral's reaction put a damper on any complaining coming from their direction.

"That... sounds like a solid plan, actually Spinner," John said, putting a hand on the Major's shoulder. "Shame I didn't think of that myself," John finished his sentence before stepping away from Spinner and walking around to Crow. "Captain Stoneham? Do you think you can spare a few Raptors to send a recording for me?"

"Uh, yes sir. If you think Sid's plan will actually work of course," Crow said, immediately earning a playful jab from Spinner's elbow.

"I do..." John confirmed. He then stepped away from the circle to dismiss everyone, but was quickly interrupted by the short, sharp bleeps of the DRADIS console. "Not again!" John said whilst sighing. "What now?"

"No idea sir, but probably hostile," Emily reported instantly. The eyes of the gathering in the centre of the room flicked synchronously between Lieutenant Jartell and Admiral Jenkins. With a shake of his head John parted the group and stood at hisusual spot in the centre of the room at the Command Desk and looked instinctively up at the DRADIS screen which was now covered in red dots.

"Frak!" John cursed as he suddenly realised the peril they were actually in and grabbed hold of the cord-phone attached to the desk at waist level. "You all need to get to your ships now!" John ordered the bewildered gathering; who gave a blotted mixture of salutes and nods before turning to the revolving doors to exit.

"Wait one!" Emily shouted over the hubbub that had been caused in the previous few seconds, a hubbub that died down substantially to hear what she had to say. "They're... hailing us sir,"

"Pardon?" John asked as politely as he could at that moment in time. " _They_ are hailing _us_?!" Emily gave only a nod in response. "Right then, put them through," John said, curious as to what was happening. He held the phone up to his ear and looked up at the DRADIS screen, just as the well over fifty plus red dots disappeared and then reappeared as green. Then, just as suddenly, a voice called out loudly to John through the phone:

"Battlestar _Hyperion_ , this is cruise liner _Naxos_. We've been escorted here by a damaged Battlestar whose reactor is going critical right now!" The voice, clearly human and very panicked, told John. Stunned as to the luck – or possibly un-luck – they had just received, the Admiral could not immediately answer the voice. He managed to quickly contain the wave of completely clashing emotions he was feeling to respond.

"The Admiral Jenkins of the Battlestar _Hyperion_ , gods are we glad to see you," John said, relieved that they had avoided _another_ Cylon attack.

"With all due respect Admiral, we'll have time for that later. At the back of our Fleet we have a damaged Colonial Odin-class Battlestar that is not showing up on DRADIS. It therefore imperative that all ships in the vicinity move as far away from that ship as we can before it explodes!" The voice repeated frantically but clearly. John, this time taking a more serious approach to the matter, turned to Emily.

"Did you get that?" he said, covering the microphone on the cord-phone. Emily gave a thumbs-up in reply. "Then let's do what he said. Helm!" The Admiral called over his shoulder.

"Here sir!" Came the reply.

"Turn us about and engaged thrusters at full. Miss Jartell, I want all our ships to do the same. In the mean time: scramble the Alert Vipers and get them to escort some SAR Raptors over to that Battlestar. If there are any survivors we need to at least try and save them," John ordered. The crewmembers got to their duties as Colonel Virgon walked over from the observing group and stood at his usual position opposite John.

"They won't last long if that ship goes down," The Colonel reminded him. John quickly shrugged it off.

"Then tell them to keep their FTL drives spun up. If the Battlestar is about to blow, they can jump away,"

"What about the Vipers?" Spinner shouted from across the room.

"Recall them as soon the Raptors arrive and pray they can get out in time," John told them sternly. They had already lost too many of their people in one day and John wanted to save as many as he could, even if that meant a few were put in danger.

After a couple of minutes, the fighters had been launched and the entire Fleet was heading at full speed away from the fatally damaged Battlestar behind them. Knowing he didn't have time to get into a position to help, Spinner stood at the command desk with Admiral Jenkins and Colonel Virgon as the situation played out on the speakers in the room.

In an attempt to help in at least some way, Spinner had a cord-phone in his hand and was busy directing his pilots whilst the ship's CO and XO tried to gain a comms link to the dead vessel. "Raptors report life-signs Admiral," Spinner relayed to John as the information was played in his ear from the Raptors outside.

" _Hyperion_ , Twinkle-toe: I've got a number of friendly signals launching from that port Flight Pod," Captain Don 'Twinkle-toe' Cook reported over the the Viper comm channels being relayed into the CIC via the loud-speakers.

"Twinkle-toe, _Hyperion_ : Do they look like escape to you?" Hermes asked from his desk behind the Command Desk.

"Roger _Hyperion_. Shall I call off the SAR?" Twinkle-toe asked. Hermes didn't reply instead looking to John to give the Command. John looked over at Hermes and shook his head before returning to what he was doing.

"Negative Twinkle-toe. Maintain current course," Hermes relayed.

"Copy _Hyperion_. Vipers continue on... Frak me! All birds, break! Break!" Twinkle-toe shouted deafeningly loudly. The Colonel, the Admiral and the Major all dropped what they were doing and locked their eyes first onto each other and then onto the DRADIS screen.

"What's going on?!" John cried as the speakers lit up with chatter from the pilots.

"A ship just jumped in right in front of them," Spinner told him. "Said it had the word _Fearless_ written on the Flight Pod,"

"How could they tell that so quickly?" Colonel Virgon asked.

"They said it was all they could see. It jumped in well under a click in front of them," Spinner replied, quickly listening to the feed from the Raptors before doing so.

"More contacts!" Emily shouted. "This time definitely Cylon! And sir," Emily added, fully drawing John's attention. "They've still got CNP installed," At that, John was knocked into silence. After a short period, John spoke again.

"Then there's nothing we can do," John said, forlorn. "Begin spooling FTL drives and get the civvies to do the same,"

"Where to Admiral?" Emily asked the sombre Admiral. John made sure to think before responding.

"The Draconis Nebula,"

"The _Draconis Nebula_?!" Emily interrupted.

"Yes, any part that isn't inside a star will do," John said, watching Emily as she begrudgingly typed in the coordinates for what she assumed would be the micro-nebula John wanted to reach. "And Spinner, bring our birds back home,"

"Tally Admiral," Spinner replied. "What about any escape Raptors,"

"Them too,"

"Yes sir," Sidney immediately got back to work and called to the Alert Vipers to escort the escaping Raptors from the other Battlestars back to the _Hyperion_ or the _Themis_. After he had finished, Spinner terminated the call and stood in respectful silence along with the rest of the CIC who didn't immediately have to report something either to the Command crew or to the pilots. The silent members of the crew stared collectively at the screens that hung from the ceiling which had switched back to the exterior feed from the _Hyperion_ 's dorsal Flight Pods.

Behind the retreating ship blazed a thousand fires from both sides in the Fleet action focused around the newly-arrived Battlestar _Fearless_ which, through the fire created by the Cylon missile bombardment, John could just make out as a Mercury-class, just like the _Hyperion_. Time appeared to slow as they watched the lights on the _Fearless_ shut off as the Cylons hacked into their computer systems and systematically shut down their systems, just as they had done to _Atlantia_ and her fleet.

Then, moments – or as they seemed, minutes – later, the Cylon fired one final missile volley at the already well beaten Battlestar and a myriad of explosions cut through the centre of the ships and caused the ship to tear itself apart; sending a number of fragments towards the surrounding Basestars, who didn't even attempt to move out of the way and let the debris impact them and destroy their ships as well.

And then, as if they hadn't already done enough damaged to the morale of _Hyperion_ 's bridge crew, the surviving Cylon Basestars sent another volley towards the already fatally wounded Odin-class whose crew had been partially rescued by their own escaping Raptors. Luckily for John – who realised that even he did not want to see that ship's fate – Emily signalled that the FTL drives were ready on all ships and they could safely jump away before the Basestars turned their guns on them as well.

John automatically gave her the go-ahead and the CIC crew's ears rang with the hum of the engines before the woosh of the jump caused the screens to turn to static and the view to change from devastating fireball to stunningly colourful nebula.

As the engines powered down once again, John broke his gaze away from the screen and walked over to Emily at her desk. "Status report?" He asked, as per post-jump procedure.

"Jump complete, all ships accounted for. We're in the Draconis nebula sir. There's just one problem," Emily told John and, by extension, everyone in the room.

"That is?" Colonel Virgon asked quickly, trying to put the images of the battle just seconds prior out of his mind.

"We've jumped 50 lightyears... in the wrong direction," Emily said, surpringly calmly.

"50? How's that even possible? I bet half those ships can barely break 20 lightyears jump range," Spinner asked in disbelief.

"There's a gravitational anomaly at the centre of the Cyrannus gravity well, I'd heard stories before about people jumping much further than their ships allowed in things like that so I thought I'd give it a shot," John explained. By the look on many of his crew's faces however, he figured that didn't help them come to terms with the 'wrong direction' part of Emily's report. "And so you all know, the Draconis Nebula is only 40 lightyears in the wrong direction,"

"40?" Emily and Spinner asked in unison.

"Yes, we are 10 lightyears closer to Kobol... from a certain point of view," John told them, not quite as reassuringly as he had meant.

"What's that supposed to...?" Spinner started to say before Emily indicated for him to 'save it for later'. "Right sir, of course we are," Spinner chuckled as he backed away from the conversation and headed back through the revolving doors. The Admiral then returned to his usual spot and took a deep breath before picking up the cord-phone and calling back the _Naxos_ to check up on the civilian fleet before retiring from his duties for a much needed – albeit probably not very productive – rest.


End file.
